TARLAC CITY - Local officials here strongly suspect that the syndicate kidnapping children is involved either in pedophilia or in selling human organs abroad.
"There is no other logical explanation to this, especially now that we know that this syndicate targets children as young as 3 years old and as old as 15 years old," said Donna Dacayanan, chief of the provincial social welfare and development office.
Three kidnap victims in this city, with ages 9, 10 and 13, who were able to escape from the syndicate's suspected hideout in Balintawak, Quezon City, personally recounted to Mayor Gelacio Manalang their ordeal in the suspects' hands and how they outsmarted the group when they escaped.
The victims claimed seeing kidnapped children still wearing nursery and day-care uniforms.
Manalang has also directed barangay officials to inquire from parents in their respective villages if their children have been missing since the first week of January. -