SITG formed to probe abduction of 2 Cebu development workers — PRO7

A special investigation task group (SITG) has been created to look into the alleged abduction of two development workers in Cebu City on January 10, the Police Regional Office 7 (PRO7) said Thursday.

PRO7 public information office chief Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare said other agencies like the Coast Guard and Philippine Ports Authority are included in the SITG to ensure an impartial probe.

“As of now, 'yung PRO7 has already created SITG po. This would include agencies of government, Coast Guard, PPA, at saka 'yung [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group],” he said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

“What we want here is a thorough and impartial probe ng nangyari (of the incident),” he added.

Investigators are on the ground and still reaching out to victims Dyan Gumanao and her partner Armand Dayoha for their statement, according to Pelare. However, the two have yet to respond, he added.

Because the abductors identified themselves as cops during the incident, Pelare denied any involvement of the police in the abduction, saying they have no grounds to arrest the victims and that it does not follow the usual police procedure.

“As far as the [Philippine National Police] is concerned, we don’t have any grounds to arrest Dyan or Armand because we don’t have basis. 'Yung speculation na police that is very easy to speculate,” he said.

“We are very positive the police did not participate in this kinds of action,” he added.

Pelare said the police would file charges if they have enough evidence. He noted that the victims were taken then released which is "not a police procedure."

The video of the reported abduction incident has been forwarded to the PNP-Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) to identify the perpetrators or check if the video was really captured during the incident, Pelare said.

On January 10, Gumanao and Dayoha returned from a vacation in Mindanao when they were forced to board a van in Pier 6, Cebu City.

They were found five days later in Carmen town, some 41 kilometers from Cebu City.—AOL, GMA Integrated News