While reports of a white van going around Metro Manila kidnapping people, reportedly children, have largely been social media fodder and all unconfirmed, one abduction incident that occurred in Makati on December 9 has been confirmed by Makati police.
The incident first caught fire on social media when a netizen with the twitter handle @MiguelPoblador reposted the video of the abduction (trigger warning: watch the video at your discretion):
That girl is still inside the van right now, probably. Please put this on blast, someone write something, anything. @rapplerdotcom @ABSCBNNews @cnnphilippines pic.twitter.com/nmlwCsJZwJ
— Miguel Poblador (@MiguelPoblador) December 9, 2019
According to Poblador, the video was taken by his boyfriend who worked in Makati near Paseo de Roxas corner Perea St, approximately 9pm, December 9, 2019
Before this incident, there had been reports that nine children were reportedly abducted by persons in a white van in Pasay. The Pasay police went on to say that the missing children had been found and were not kidnapped.
The white van abductions are now a sort of contemporary urban legend. In the US, similar incidents of kidnappers in white vans taking people have been reported, causing panic in some cities.
But the Makati abduction, because it has been confirmed, puts a different spin on the entire thing.