Baby kidnapped along EDSA

A four-month old infant was kidnapped while her parents were sleeping along a sidewalk in Quezon City, according to EJ Gomez’s Sunday report on 24 Oras Weekend.

Authorities are searching for the female suspect, whose crime was caught on CCTV.

“Sobrang sakit po ma’am. Para po kaming binagsakan ng langit at lupa. Iniisip ko po ngayon kung ano ginagawa sa kanya nung tao, kung sinasaktan po ba yung anak ko o nililinisan po ba siya,” the young mother Rosel Manansala said.

(It really hurts, ma’am. It's like heaven and earth have fallen on us. Now I'm thinking about what that person is doing to my baby. Is she hurting my baby or is she cleaning her?)

Manansala is despondent that her four-month-old baby, Rhea, has been missing for over two weeks since she was kidnapped at around 3:00 a.m. on Oct. 4.

In CCTV footage, a woman wearing a hoodie was seen observing the area. A while later, she placed an umbrella in front of the baby’s family and returned to where she was standing. She then quickly picked up the baby from her sleeping parents and flagged a passing taxi.

“Naramdaman ko po ma’am na para pong may gumalaw sa tabi, sabay po nung kumapa po ko sa may gilid ko ma’am eh wala na po kong makapa,” Manansala said.

(I felt that something moved beside me. When I checked my side, I could no longer feel the baby.)

“Nagpablotter sa amin. Nakausap ko rin po yung mga nagtitinda roon ang sabi hindi rin po talaga nila nakita. Papunta po sya ng norte,” said Rizza Angel Serquina, desk officer of Barangay Council for the Protection of Children of Barangay E. Rodriguez, Quezon City.

(The incident is now recorded in a police blotter. I also talked to some vendors there but they did not notice the suspect. She was headed north.)

Through the barangay CCTV, authorities were able to identify the taxi the suspect took.

Based on the backtracking of the Quezon Police District, the suspect was dropped off at a mall.

In a statement from the taxi driver to police, he said he dropped off the woman at a mall where she caught a bus headed to Laguna.

Manansala pleaded for the woman to return her daughter.

“Kung sino ka man po na kumuha sa anak ko, nakikiusap at nagmamakaawa ako sayo, ibalik mo sana yung anak namin,” Manansala said.

(Whoever took my baby, I beg you to return our daughter.) —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News