Body found in Nueva Ecija creek not that of Kulot —PNP

The body riddled with stab wounds found in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, last week was not that of Reynaldo "Kulot" de Guzman, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday, citing results of DNA test.

Deputy Director General Fernando Mendez, the deputy chief for operations of the PNP, said the buccal swabs taken from parents of De Guzman, the 14-year-old boy last seen alive with slain teenager Carl Angelo Arnaiz, did not match the DNA from the body found at the creek in Nueva Ecija.

DNA test result showing that the body found in Nueva Ecija was not the biological child of the parents of Kulot @gmanewsbreaking pic.twitter.com/KPOwS2GLbw

— Amita O. Legaspi (@amitalegaspi) September 11, 2017

"We got buccal swabbing, samples from the mouth of the parents," he said at a press conference in Camp Crame.

"Based on the results obtained, the source of the DNA profile obtained from the male cadaver cannot be the biological offspring of Eduardo Gabriel and Lina de Guzman," he said at a press conference in Camp Crame.

"Hindi siya si Reynaldo de Guzman, hindi siya 'yung anak nilang mag-asawa," he added.

He said for the test, they did "buccal swabbing" where they obtained DNA samples from the mouth of the parents and compared them with the sample taken from the cadaver. He said they also took blood samples.

Chief Insp. Lorna Santos, chief of the PNP Crime Lab DNA division, said the accuracy of the test they conducted is 99.9 percent.

“What we have conducted is the paternity test so that is the result of our exam. Based sa paternity we look for the DNA profile obtained from the alleged parents, for this case, we have swabbing, biological sample from the alleged father and the alleged mother and compare that to the DNA profile obtained from the cadaver,” she said.

Dead boy

Mendez said they do not know the identity of the dead boy found in the creek, but will look into reports — if any — of missing boys in nearby provinces.

"I already asked the provincial director and apparently there was no reported missing person in Nueva Ecija," he said.

He likewise said the police will look for the real Reynaldo de Guzman.

The police official said they have yet to successfully reach De Guzman's parents to inform them of the results of the DNA test although they've already tried contacting them.

The body, which bore over 20 stab wounds and with its head wrapped in packaging tape, was found floating in a creek last Tuesday, days after De Guzman went missing with Arnaiz.

Mendez said since the body found in the creek was already bloated, the parents mistook it for that of their missing son's.

PAO doubts findings

The chief of the Public Attorney's Office on Monday cast doubt on the results of the DNA test.

PAO chief Attorney Persida Acosta said the parents of De Guzman were the ones who identified the remains, and based on the photos of Kulot given by the parents, it was a match, according to a report on Balitanghali by Dano Tingcungco.

Acosta added that based on PAO's comparative analysis, the body found in Gapan, Nueva Ecija in a creek was that of De Guzman.

The PAO chief also said the reliability of the DNA test depends on the reliability of the specimen.

Arnaiz, 19, was killed in what police claimed was a shootout in Caloocan City in the wee hours of August 18 after he allegedly robbed a taxi driver. His parents found his body in a morgue in Caloocan City on August 28. —KBK/KVD/KG, GMA News