AN EIGHT-year-old boy who was kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf was freed Monday night after being held captive by the bandit gang for more than seven months.
Rexon Romoc, who was kidnapped Aug. 5 last year in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay, was freed in Jolo, Sulu after President Rodrigo Duterte instructed Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza to work on his release “without let-up.”
Dureza said the child was released through “well-meaning officials in Sulu and elements of the Moro National Liberation Front.”
“They sold everything including their small sari sari store and borrowed from friends and relatives to raise that amount. The father was released but the captors still retained son Rexon,” Dureza said.
“Nora had been agonizing over Rexon, her youngest of two children. Since last December, I would get texts and calls from her, most of the time crying, asking for help,” he added.
Romoc’s mother, Nora, was earlier released Aug. 22 last year after paying some small amount while his father Elmer was later freed Nov. 13 after paying P1 million, thinking both of them (father and son) would be released but the captors still held the eight-year old kid.
Romoc then met his parents at Malacanang Palace Tuesday after a medical checkup done at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City.
Dureza recounted the first thing that the kid said when he was brought by an emissary was the name of his parents.