Cops: Geraldine Palma still alive?

The seven-year-old girl thought to have been raped, killed, and stuffed into a suitcase found in Manila Bay, is alive and was spirited away to escape "neglect" of her parents. Manila police investigators are now pursuing this theory after conducting follow-up background checks and finding signs that the girl in the suitcase may not be Geraldine "Dindin" Palma after all. Superintendent Alejandro Yanquiling Jr, head of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide division, said probers are still looking for Maritess Ompog, Geraldine's nanny who remains missing to date. He said they are also conducting background investigations on Ontog. "Personally my assessment at this time is that Geraldine and her nanny are still alive. If what Geraldine's school says is true, she is a neglected child and her nanny spirited her away after taking pity on her," Yangquiling said in Filipino on dzRH radio. Yanquiling said he started to doubt the slain girl was Geraldine after inspecting the autopsy records and comparing them with those of Geraldine. He said the first discrepancy included a four-inch difference in height between Geraldine and the victim. "It appears the child is neglected. Her school said she would take pencils and food from her classmates, and would stay in school until late evening. Some of the nuns would take pity and give her food," he said. However, Yangquiling said the reactions so far on Geraldine's father Gerald and mother Thelma tend to bolster suspicions that they may have indeed neglected Geraldine. He said it was not the MPD that identified the girl but Mr and Mrs Palma. Mr Palma on Tuesday gave his consent to exhume the body found in the suitcase. Yangquiling said Mrs Palma arrived at the Popular Funeral Home with the Presidential Anti-Crime Emergency Response shortly after the MPD brought the girl's body there. Three days later, Mr Palma came to claim the body, "without notifying the MPD and the medico-legal officer." Yanquiling also noted that in his interviews with Mr Palma and in the latter's confrontations with the suspects, he "did not seem like a father who lost a daughter." "Knowing fully well the extent of injuries inflicted on his daughter, I expected him to kick and punch the suspects. He didn't do that. He even smiled. And when I was showing him gory photos of the victim, he had no reaction on his face," he said. He also said that while Mr. Palma announced a P1-million reward leading to the capture of the suspects, "he cannot even buy soft drinks for the witnesses." Meanwhile, Yanquiling said they are waiting for the Palma's lawyers led by Jose Justiniano to schedule the exhumation of the girl's body. He said they may ask the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct the exhumation. He said the exhumation and results will depend on the agency. - GMANews.TV