Kent man says young daughter is victim of international kidnapping

KENT, Wash. — Elisha Edwin is angry. His daughter is in the Philippines with her mother and he wants her back.

Has he considered going?

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"Left to me, I would have," said Edwin. "I would have gone to the Philippines and bring my daughter back. She belongs here. She doesn't belong to the Philippines."

Edwin and Katrina Lacdao never married  but have shared custody of their 3-year-old daughter Rachel. So Lacdao needed the court's permission to take the little girl out of the country.

Edwin feared the worst.

"And I did plead to the court and said, 'This is not just a vacation. She's going to kidnap this child," he said. "And the court did not actually listen to me and this is where we are. My daughter's gone."

Moreover, when he went by the Tukwila home she shared with her mother, he found a realtor's lock box indicating the house is for sale.

Edwin emerged from the Maleng Regional Justice Center with court documents giving him sole custody of Rachel, who was born in the U.S., and ordering her mother to return her.

He says he is now "pretty much putting it into the hands of the authorities. She's my everything. And if I have to move heaven and earth to bring Rachel back, I will."

This is something he hopes the Philippine government will help with, too.

The international Hague Convention agreement makes it illegal to remove a child permanently from her native country.

But while the agreement covers the U.S. and many other countries, it does not include the Philippines.

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