Wandering kidnap victim rescued

A seven-year-old boy found wandering inside a passenger bus in Quezon City turned out to be a kidnap victim.

The boy, identified as Reggie Hilario, was reunited yesterday with his father, Allan, 44, at the Marikina City police station eight days after his kidnapping was reported to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

"The boy was still in a state of shock," Marikina police chief Superintendent Sotero Ramos Jr. said, adding that Hilario’s father "appeared tired, but was happy to see his son alive and well.

Ramos turned the young Hilario over to the custody of the NBI, which is now working for the arrest of the boy’s kidnappers.

The boy was found wandering inside a bus plying the FTI Taguig City-Cubao route as the vehicle passed through Quezon City Wednesday afternoon.

Guard Fely Miranda of Barangay Concepcion Uno in Marikina City turned the boy over to the Marikina City police for safekeeping hours after he was found on the bus.

The boy appeared on television news programs yesterday, prompting a call to Ramos by Marikina City Metropolitan Trial Court Judge Felix Reyes.

"The judge asked me whether we have in custody the boy who appeared on TV and he informed me that (the young Hilario) was a kidnap victim," Ramos said.

The Marikina police coordinated with the NBI and a team led by Special Investigator Waldo Palattao arrived to take custody of the boy.

Allan, a loan consultant with Asia Link, said his son was being cared for by his brother, Edgard at their residence at 805 Cayco St. in Sampaloc, Manila when the boy disappeared. – Non Alquitran