Body found in Gapan, Nueva Ecija laid to rest as “Kulot” despite questions about identity

(Eagle News) — Despite questions about his identity, the boy whose lifeless body was found in Gapan, Nueva Ecija on Sept. 6 was laid to rest as 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman on Wednesday.

“Talagang sa amin po, anak po namin dahil kamukha ng tatay yung buong kabuuan ng mukha. Talagang sa amin talaga po ‘yan,” Lina, De Guzman’s mother, told reporters after quick burial rites held at Pasig City Cemetery.

Lina made the comment even after the Philippine National Police said the body was not the 14-year-old’s based on results of a DNA test they conducted.

Eduardo Gabriel, De Guzman’s father, insisted the body was his son’s, noting that  it bore his neck scar and the wart in his left leg.

According to Gabriel, the police cannot just take  the body away from them.

Both Gabriel and Lina have asked for a second DNA test, which Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre has granted.

“Anak namin yan, dugo’t laman namin yan. Kami gumawa niyan, sa amin yan,” Lina said.

De Guzman, alias Kulot, and his  friend Carl Angelo Arnaiz went missing after they went out to buy  midnight snacks.

The Caloocan Police said Arnaiz was killed in a  shootout that ensued after the teenager fired at policemen who were out to arrest him for robbing a taxi driver in Caloocan on Aug. 18.

But Arnaiz’s parents disputed the police account, noting the results of the autopsy conducted by the Public Attorneys Office on the body that showed the teenager was tortured before he was killed.

Days later, the lifeless body of a boy police initially identified as De Guzman was found in a creek in Gapan.

They later retracted that statement after results of the DNA test they held  on the corpse showed it could not have been a “biological son” of Lina or Gabriel.