Police: Remains found in Surigao Norte not of missing banker

SURIGAO CITY — The human skeleton found inside a cave in Bacuag town in Surigao del Norte does not belong to a banker abducted on Jan. 7, 2009, a police official said Thursday. Surigao del Norte Police Provincial head Senior Superintendent Gilbert Dela Cruz Cruz said the result of the examination on the skeleton’s dental structure did not match with that of Chinese-Filipino banker Johnson Cuiting. The skeletal remains were recovered on March 30 at Sitio Hinatingan in Barangay Poblacion in Bacuag town, after a resident had reported finding them. Authorities had suspected that the remains were Cuiting’s after getting intelligence reports indicating that the victim may have died in captivity. Cruz assured Cuiting’s family of continuing search and investigation on the kidnapping case, which has remained unsolved after over a year. ‘Kidnap me’ case? Rumors in the locality have it that Cuiting is alive because the incident was allegedly a “kidnap me" case, and that he is now abroad after ransom was paid for his supposed release. But Cuiting’s sisters have criticized Philippine law enforcement authorities for their failure to deliver on their promise to produce the victim – dead or alive. In a text message to GMANews.TV, trader Nitz Cuiting-Carvajal, a sister of the missing victim, said the Cuiting family will seek the help of media, particularly big TV networks, national newspapers and radio stations in hopes of solving the case. "The family has been silent for almost a year now, it is now high time to speak," Carvajal said, adding that the police failed to give updates on the search until now. Doctor Bliss Digal Cuiting, the victim’s wife, claimed in a press statement that the family was able to contact the kidnappers when they demanded a P10-million ransom, but after that, the family had lost contact with the abductors. "It was her sister Lydia who had lived in California but came home to purposely negotiate with the kidnappers who heard Johnson’s voice to the last. They called us using different cell phone numbers, and they instructed us to wait for their call. We can not call them because if we do they will not respond," Dr. Cuiting said in her press statement. She said that after the kidnappers stopped communicating despite Cuiting’s family readiness to pay the ransom that the kidnappers had demanded, "I decided to ask the phone company Globe to stop the subscription of Johnson’s cell phone because it cannot be used anyway. We repeatedly called Johnson’s phone but it remained off." Surigao City Police records showed that Cuiting was abducted by four fully-armed suspects wearing black jackets, ski-mask and gloves inside the trader’s home in Ceniza Heights Subdivision, Barangay Caniog, Surigao City, about 9:45 p.m. on the evening of Jan. 7, 2009. — Ben Serrano/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV