DILG’s Remulla says kidnapped Chinese student forced to sing after having finger cut off, family's driver in cahoots with kidnappers
The 14-year-old Chinese student who was kidnapped was forced to sing after he had his pinky finger cut off by the perpetrators, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Jonvic Remulla said.
Speaking with ANC, Remulla shared more details about the abduction of the foreign student by a Chinese-led gang before he was recovered in the evening of Feb. 25.
"I remember Saturday night was when they showed the video of the last joint of the pinky finger being cut off. Sunday night, we had a proof of life video where the boy was asked to sing the favorite song of the younger sister," Remulla recounted.
"He sang it. He seemed to be in good health, so we were confident," he added.
Remulla described the perpetrators as "barbaric" for forcing the boy to sing after severing a part of his body.
"They have crossed the line of being human already. They've lost all conscience, they are psychopaths. They will do anything to gain an advantage," he stressed.
According to him, the student's driver who was found murdered inside a vehicle in San Rafael, Bulacan is an accomplice of the kidnappers.
"According to the contents of the cellphone of the driver, he was in cahoots with the perpetrators of the crime. He was part of the syndicate," Remulla said.
"And according to the information that we got, he was only an employee for one month before the incident happened," he added.
When asked why the gang murdered him if he was a part of their group, Remulla explained that it was "part of the drill because he would be the first suspect in an incident like that."
The Chinese student, who lived within the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) area, started to suspect that something was wrong when they were passing through a different route exiting BGC.
"He was texting his father, 'Why am I going on a different route?' And then, when they exited, they transferred into another car together with the driver, and it looks like maybe six hours after the incident, they killed the driver already," Remulla said.
The boy was eventually rescued when Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) used the driver's contacts from his phone to intercept and to locate the signal of the kidnappers.
After seeing the boy in pajamas abandoned along Macapagal Avenue in Parañaque City, authorities gave up the chase as they needed to prioritize rescuing the victim.
While no ransom was paid, Remulla said that the kidnappers were possibly motivated to ask for money as they "knew of the source of wealth" of the family.
He assured that the PNP is "on top of the situation."
In a previous press briefing, the DILG official surmised that the kidnapping case is rooted in a "foreigner against foreigner" feud.
"Sa nakikita namin, it's always foreigner against foreigner. Walang mastermind na Pilipino sa krimen na ito. Again, [ayon] sa matrix naming nahanap, ito ay resulta ng POGO operations dito simula 2016 na nagkaroon sila ng lucrative means of livelihood," he told the media.
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. ordered an "immediate ban" on POGOs in November 2024, ceasing all illegal offshore gaming operations, license applications, and license renewals in the country.
