ILAGAN, Isabela, Philippines – Police ruled out kidnapping in the disappearance of a nursing coed from Makati City who was originally reported to have been abducted and taken to a secluded area here.
Senior Superintendent Jimmy Rivera, provincial police director, said the alleged victim, Samantha Joy Bugante, 20, merely ran away from home after being reprimanded by her mother.
“We traced her whereabouts in Angadanan (town),” Rivera said, adding that she had already returned home after being fetched by her relatives.
Bugante’s disappearance created a frenzy among local authorities after her brother Heherson reportedly claimed that she was kidnapped last July and taken here.
A joint police team, led by Superintendent Antonio Marallag, provincial police intelligence officer, later found her in the residence of one Freddie Cariño in Angadanan town. – Charlie Lagasca