THE chief of Talamban Police Station admitted having a hard time resolving the case involving six persons from Ozamis City who went missing on September 26, 2022 after checking in at a motel in Barangay Talamban, Cebu City.
Police Major Alvin Llamedo, Talamban police chief, said nobody came to their office yet, including the one who sought the help of Senator Raffy Tulfo, to ask their assistance in locating the missing individuals.
The group reportedly went to Cebu City to accompany a patient who was scheduled to undergo a surgery.
There were eight of them who checked in at a motel on September 10, but their two companions checked out the following day.
On September 26, however, armed persons who reportedly identified themselves as policemen barged inside their room and forced the victims to board into a white van.
The victims were identified as Jessica Piang, Mary Cris Ello, Marvin Carballo, Sheila Mae Duhaylungsod, and two others identified only by their aliases Sitay and Buyong.
Llamedo said the management of the motel only reported the matter to their station two days after the incident.
The police recorded the incident in the blotter as “missing persons” as the suspects did not ask for ransom money.
“Ang naghatag sa report regarding sa missing person ang manager sa motel after the incident sa September 26. Missing person lang kay according to him, alleged police operation daw,” said Llamedo.
(The manager of the motel was the one who reported the incident on September 26. We just consider them as missing persons because it was allegedly a police operation.)
Relatives tried to contact the victims but failed.
The closed circuit television (CCTV0 cameras of the establishment were also not functioning when the police checked it out.
Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, chief of the Cebu City Police Office, ordered Llamedo to launch an ocular inspection in the area to find out if there is any piece of evidence that can be obtained, including CCTV footage from nearby establishments.
Llamedo urged the complainant to come to Cebu City so that they can start a full blown investigation with other police units in Central Visayas.
Among those that will be looked into in the investigation are the personal backgrounds of the abductees.
The CCPO believes that the suspects used the name of their agency again to confuse the investigators. (AYB, TPT)