Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has ordered a thorough investigation into the allegation of two development workers that policemen tried to abduct them on Jan. 10 in a port in Cebu.

Azurin said he had already tasked Brig Gen. Jeary Bearis, director of the Central Visayas regional police, to get all the necessary details that could shed light on the attempted kidnapping which went viral when a video of the incident was uploaded on social media.

"There was a report that they (alleged abductors) are policemen, we are checking if they are indeed policemen, we really need to confirm this," said Azurin in an interview over dzRH.

Development workers Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha had just arrived at a port in Cebu City on Jan. 10 from Cagayan de Oro City when a group of men allegedly shoved them inside a white van.

They were then taken and later abandoned in Carmen town where they were able to contact their families.

Gumano was among those arrested and charged for holding a protest action in front of University of the Philippines Cebu campus in June 2020 over the alleged sloppy response of the national government on Covid-19 pandemic. The case against him and seven other activists were dismissed three months later.

Azurin said they need to get the statements from the two development workers in order to expedite the investigation and eventually the identification of the perpetrators.

He said the Highway Patrol Group and the Anti-Cybercrime Group of the PNP were also tasked to assist in enhancing the video to get the license plate of the vehicle where the two development workers were forced to board.