Parents, brothers saw it; Woman, 22, ‘abducted’ from their own house

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — In the presence of her parents and two brothers, a 22-year-old woman was forcibly taken from their own house in Ajuy town of Iloilo.

Chief Inspector Charlie Sustento, Ajuy Police chief, said the incident happened at 7:50 p.m. on Monday at sitio Casamata in Barangay Central, a village just two kilometers from the town proper.

While the rest of her family members were watching television, two armed men unceremoniously entered the house and looked for Renelyn "Love-Love" Ira.

The unidentified ‘abductors,’ who were allegedly wearing masks covering half of their faces, shortly after found the victim inside a room and took her with them.

But oddly, before taking her away, they let her pack her clothes first and even allowed her to take with her a mobile phone. As they went out of the room, Ira's abductors then told her family, in Hiligaynon dialect, “stubborn … because she's hardheaded.”

The armed men also told her family to just cooperate because the victim has already been paid. They further said that someone would just like to talk her, and then they promised to bring her back after two to three days. They then left the house and could have used a motorcycle in taking her.

The victim's brothers tried to chase after the suspects but to no avail. They later reported the incident to police authorities at 8:20 p.m., or 30 minutes after the ‘abduction.’ Sustento said the ‘abductors’ could have taken the route going to the rice fields as their escape path.

A motorcycle believed to have been used as the getaway vehicle was recovered after it was abandoned at Barangay Lanjagan in Ajuy at around 1a.m. Tuesday.

Several hours later, someone appeared at the police station and claimed ownership of the motorcycle, but the police did not release it when the man failed to present any documents to prove his ownership of the vehicle.

Sustento admitted that they are looking at "love triangle" as the motive of the incident. His family confirmed that the victim used to have a relationship with a married businessman, whose identity was not revealed by the police pending investigation.

The businessman is allegedly in his 60s and came from a well-off family in Sara town of Iloilo. Ira, who comes from a lower-income class family, allegedly ended her relationship with him and went on to work as a call center agent in Iloilo City.

A few weeks ago, she stopped working after she got sick and went home in Ajuy. There were reports that Ira had rekindled her alliance with the businessman, but Sustento said it is still subject for verification.

Her family, though, admitted to have received a letter almost two months ago warning the victim to leave their place citing her continued illicit relationship with the man. The letter told Ira that she should flee or something bad will happen to her.

As this developed, Sustento said he already talked to the businessman named as Ira's alleged former lover. "But he denied anything to do with incident. He told us he had nothing to do about it or has any knowledge about her whereabouts," he said, while assuring the victim’s family would continue with the manhunt operation until they found Ira. (FREEMAN)