Missing Cebu City student found near highway in Barili

A twenty-one-year-old student who was reported as missing by her mother last June 27 was found in a grassy area along the national road in Barangay Kalubihan, Barili town, two days later.

Senior Insp. Alvin Llamedo, Station 10 commander, said the mother came to the police station in Punta Princesa to report her missing daughter and ask for assistance to trace a text message she received from her daughter containing three letters and two numbers which she suspected was a plate number.

The anxious mother was afraid that her daughter was in danger.

Llamedo said he immediately flashed an alarm to all police units regarding the missing student.

According to the police official, their investigation disclosed that the student rode an Uber, so they placed a call to the company and gave the incomplete car license plates to see if it would match any of the vehicles under them.

Police later learned that there was a match and the driver of the vehicle confirmed that the student indeed took a ride with him from Banawa, Guadalupe, to the South Bus Terminal and showed a proof of receipt that his passenger was dropped off at the terminal.

On Friday evening, June 30, a concerned citizen reported to the Barili Police Station that a woman found in a grassy area near the national road. The student was allegedly found with her hands tied.

Senior Insp. Jose Angelo Acupinpin, station commander of the Barili police immediately informed Llamedo about the woman found near the national road on the off chance that she would be the missing woman which was the subject of the flash alarm by Station 10 last June 27.

They subjected her to a medical check-up.

The only statement the woman issued was that she rode a cab and did not know what happened next as when she woke up, she was already in the grassy area along the highway. She claimed that she was raped but was not sure.

She claimed that when she awoke, she no longer have her cell phone and was missing P1,000.

Acupinpin said she was traumatized by the incident.

The Barili and Punta Princesa police are doing a joint investigation. The victim and her family are however uncooperative as the student is currently confined at a private hospital.