Minor in kidnap case will be turned over to DSWD - PNP

MANILA, Philippines – The 14-year-old minor linked to the kidnapping of ABS-CBN veteran anchor Cecilia Victoria Oreña-Drilon, her crew, and a professor is set to be transferred to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome was quoted in a radio interview as saying the minor would be handed to the DSWD since the said agency is mandated by law to offer protection to children - below the legal age of 18 - who are victimized or become suspects to a crime. The Philippine Marines apprehended the 14-year-old boy along with another teenager – Nadzmir Amirul, Alias Abu Kudama, 18 – at a checkpoint in Patikul, Sulu last Friday. The two were subjected to interrogation and are currently under the custody of the 3rd Marine brigade in the said southern Philippine province. Before his transfer to the DSWD, the juvenile suspected Abu Sayyaf member would first be turned over by the Marines to policemen from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Western Mindanao police on Tuesday, the radio report said. The two arrested suspects are allegedly members of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf, which is said to be responsible for the kidnapping of Drilon, her crewmen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama, and Mindanao professor Octavio Dinampo in Maimbung, Sulu last June. The abductors initially set free Valderama on June 12, before releasing the three remaining captives on June 17. The police said they would be including the two teenagers in a supplemental affidavit that they would be submitting in connection to the kidnapping charges that would be filed against Indanan, Sulu mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son Haider. On Monday, the Department of Justice recommended the filing of kidnap-for-ransom charges against the Isnajis, who played negotiators in the June 8 abduction incident. - By Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV