Home>News>Metro>Girl kidnapped, sold for shabu
Metro

Girl kidnapped, sold for shabu

THE Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group yesterday said it is looking into a Bilibid prisoner’s confession that a young girl was sold by her abductors to a buyer in Calabarzon region so that they can buy shabu in 2017.

PNP-AKG director, Brigadier General Jonnel C. Estomo said they are still looking for the victim identified as Sofia Faith Geocadin who was only 19-months old when she was kidnapped on February 22, 2017 in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.

According to Estomo, they are asking the help of the public in locating the victim in Luzon and her ‘buyer.’ The official said that during questioning, a ‘Person of Interest’ whom he identified as Roslie Martinico, a woman serving a lengthy jail term at the New Bilibid Prisons claimed that the baby girl was sold by her abductors somewhere in Laguna and Cavite in exchange for shabu.

Estomo said a series of operations and raids to recover the missing infant have produced negative results since then. “We are considering this as a ‘live case’ as of the moment and are asking anybody who has information on the whereabouts of the young kidnapping victim to come out in the open. We assure that the informant’s identity will be kept in utmost secrecy,” the PNP-AKG director said.

The PNP-AKG has been providing full support to the baby girl’s mother’s quest to find her over the past two years and eight months.

Estomo said that last August 18, a Cagayan de Oro City judge found three suspects in the kidnapping of the baby girl guilty beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced them to reclusion perpetua with no eligibility for parole.

He said that Judge Evelyn Gamotin-Nery of the Cagayan de Oro City Regional Trial Court Branch 19 also ordered Maxima ‘Normie’ Alastra Maraasin, Erlinda Tapayan and Esperidion Alastra to indemnify the missing girl’s mother Meribeth Geocadin.

However, the judge acquitted three other accused identified as Queenie Caliso, Cesar Ian Tapayan and Brian Tapayan following the failure of the prosecution to prove their real involvement in the kidnapping case.

Estomo said that the judge convicted the three accused following a lengthy trial which saw Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Malou Sumalpong and officers from the AKG Mindanao Field Unit Iligan Satellite Office providing testimonies against the suspects.

The official said that the baby girl was abducted in Sitio Buguac in Barangay Sta. Cruz in Tagaloan, Misamis Oriental on February 22, 2017. The AKG-MFU took cognizance of the case and conducted operations which resulted in the arrest of the suspects after they tried to negotiate a ransom for the release of the victim.

Estomo said that the arrested suspects were inquested for kidnapping-for-ransom and serious illegal detention before the office of Assistant Prosecutor Joana Jardeleza-Llagas in Cagayan de Oro City.

Criminal charges were filed against them before the court after the prosecutor found probable cause against the accused.