Isabela boy, 11, tortured to death by kidnappers

SANTIAGO CITY – An 11-year-old Grade 6 pupil here was found dead last Friday, four days after he was abducted, his body stuffed in a sack found floating in an irrigation canal and bearing signs of torture.

Police sources said the victim, Christian Jay Bulos, a student of the Catholic La Sallete Elementary School, was beaten up and strangled with an aluminum wire that his eyes popped out.

The sack containing the boy’s body was found in an irrigation canal in Barangay Baluarte here.

The boy’s father, said to be a businessman, was still in shock over his son’s killing. The boy’s mother works overseas.

The boy’s grandmother confirmed seeing a ransom note from the kidnappers demanding P500,000, contrary to reports of a P2-million ransom demand.

The Buloses, who reside in Barangay Rosario, negotiated a lower ransom, and the kidnappers agreed to P250,000 to be dropped at a Unioil gasoline station along Daang Maharlika here.

“We were promised that my grandchild would be released unharmed,” the boy’s grandmother said.

However, reports said the Buloses managed to raise only P100,000, which they left at the payoff site. This reportedly angered the kidnappers, prompting them to kill the boy.

The boy’s brutal killing has generated a public outcry here, with school authorities expressing fear that other students might suffer the same fate.

Police have remained mum on the kidnap-slay pending the completion of their investigation. Superintendent Wilhelm Barlis, city police chief, failed to respond to phone calls.