Missing boy reunited with parents after eight days

CEBU, Philippines - The 9-year-old boy who had been missing for eight days has been returned to his family after a fruit vendor outside a mall reported seeing a boy matching the description published a newspaper.

Last Friday, the parents of the boy, Aida and Alexander Geganto, went to verify the tip given by the fruit vendor and identified the boy as their child.

The parents were happy to see that the child is unharmed, although the child looked surprised to see them.

According to Aida, the child had ran away because he was scared to go home after his classmates in Guadalupe Elementary School accused him of stealing ten pesos and told him that he will be beaten and scolded by his father.

She said that her child had gone directly to the mall, where a classmate's parents also sells fruits as a living. Each night he had been missing, the boy had been going home with the family who lives in Liloan.

The classmate's parents would bring the child to Colon with them every day in case his parents would look for him there.

After a few days, another fruit vendor read about the missing boy report in the newspaper.

Aida added that the people in the area had tried to persuade the child to go home but the child would refuse, saying that he knows the direction back home but scared he would get scolded.

Aida and Alexander will coordinate with the class teacher regarding the child’s classmates and their alleged accusation before the child ran away.

Cebu City Police Office Director Police Senior Superintendent Joel Doria reminds parents to be more cautious in child-rearing.

“Dapat tutukan nila ang anak nila, magulang sila, huwag masyadong mahigpit. Kahit sinong ama o magulang mag-aalala kasi naglayas yung anak,” Doria said.

While Guadalupe Police Station Chief Senior Inspector Elisindro Quijano assures the community that the incident will not happen, he also tells parents that, if their child goes missing, they should immediately report the incident to the police and post updates so the case investigation can be efficient.

For his part, Doria admits that there is no police unit responsible for looking at missing persons.

Doria said they tap and utilize CCPO's Police Community Relations (PCR) desk to address this concern, in coordination with the media.

"Actually yung PCR, we can utilize them, kasi ang ating magagawa dyan, i-post natin sa mga establishments natin, humingi tayo ng tulong tungkol doon sa missing persons," Doria said.

Reporting and filing a blotter report at the police station and submitting a recent photo of the missing person are needed so that police can disseminate the information to public places and gain leads.

Police are also careful in dealing with cases of missing persons since their disappearance might not be related to kidnapping and might be intentional.

"When it comes to sudden missing person, pero (ang) lumalabas, ang sinasabi kinidnap, which is hindi naman. Lumalabas, abduction hindi rin kasi, yun pala nag-layas. Ang iba naman sumasakay sa isyu na hindi naman actually nangyari, pero gumagawa sila ng report na na-abduct sila or na kidnap sila tapos pino-post sa Facebook. Which in turn, malalaman natin na hoax pala," Doria explains.

Doria cited an incident that happened in Barangay Carreta, Cebu City where a child was allegedly kidnapped but investigation showed that this was not true.

"Yung bata di nakayanan, umihi sa may kalsada kasi (nag-stop pa ang)  traffic light. Yung mag-go na, yung nanay biglang hinatak yung bata, isinakay kasi mag-go-go na nga. May nakakita, itinimbre sa police. Tayo naman, pinasundan natin, inalarma ang kapolisan natin, sinundan sa Mandaue (City). Only to find out na anak n'ya yun," Doria said.

There is nothing wrong with being vigilant, but Doria discourages the public from posting unverified incidents on social media as this can lead to panic.

He said the public should directly report these kinds of incidents to the police.

"Kung hindi naman totoo, wag na i-report (through Facebook). Pero yun nga at least vigilant ang mga mamamayan, na report kaagad. At least maganda yung outcome," he said. — Mae Clydyl L. Avila and Christell Fatima M. Tudtud (FREEMAN)