YOUTH leaders in Cebu province are faced with a challenge: to help find a missing fellow youth leader.
Jerico Rubio, Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation-Cebu Province president, encouraged all youth officials to help in looking for Reynell Cantilla, the missing SK chairman of Barangay Tigbao in Badian town.
Rubio posted an announcement on Facebook urging youth officials to immediately report to the police if news of Cantilla’s
whereabouts reach them.
“If ever you have any news (of his whereabouts) or (if you have found) him in your place, kindly approach the nearest police station or your SK Chairman,” Rubio’s post read.
In a phone interview with Cebu Daily News, Rubio said that with the SK chairman going missing, he was worried not only for Cantilla but for the other youths in the province.
“Let us all pray na walay nahitabo na dautan diha niya ug safe ra siya og asa man siya karon. Pero atong
paningkamutan na makit-an nato siya as soon as possible,” Rubio said.
(Let us all pray that nothing bad happened to him and that he is safe wherever he is now. We will work hard to find him as soon as possible.)
“Ako sad nabalaka alang niya isip presidente sa SK sa probinsya sa Sugbo ug para sad sa proteksyon sa tanang
kabataan sa atong probinsya,” he added.
(As president of the Provincial SK federation, I am worried about him and of the safety of all youth in our province.)
Rubio said he will visit the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) today, Monday, to personally coordinate with the
police officials on the developments in the search for Cantilla.
“Sa iyang pamilya, dili lang unta sila maghunahuna una nga naay dili maayo nga nahitabo sa ilang anak samtang wala pa gyo’y report kung naunsa gyod. Let’s all pray lang nga wala lang untay dautan nga nahitabo og mouli ra gyod siya (Cantilla),” Rubio added.
(To his family, I enjoin them not to think of the worst in the absence of a report as to what actually happened to him. Let’s all pray that nothing bad happened to him.)
Rubio earlier said that Cantilla’s disappearance may be due to personal problems.
Still in town
Rubio, who visited the family of Cantilla on Saturday, also revealed the SK chair’s family admitted that Cantilla’s girlfriend is pregnant.
He said the parents and the relatives of Cantilla were waiting in their home for Cantilla’s return and occasionally visited the Manduyong Bridge hoping to see him in its vicinity.
Cantilla, 18, has been reported missing by his family at the Badian Police Station in the morning of November 9, Friday.
The motorcycle that he was driving was found at Manduyong Bridge, about 3 kilometers from Barangay Tigbao.
The report received by the police said Cantilla has been missing since Thursday night, November 8.
After being missing for over 60 hours, the town police believed they could still find Cantilla alive and safe.
Chief Insp. Elmond Mondaya, the town’s police chief, said they were looking at different angles behind the mysterious disappearance of the youth official.
“Basin nilakaw lang siya o naa siyay problema nga wala niya masulti sa iyang pamilya o mga suod nga kaila. Basin nagpakalayo-layo siya (He might have just left home without telling his family because of a problem),” Mondaya told CDN.
No positive ID
Mondaya added they are looking at the likelihood that Cantilla was still in Badian
However, the police chief admitted it was “questionable” that Cantilla would abandon his motorcycle if he really ran away, noting that he would have needed his vehicle if he were running away.
“As of now, the only fact that we have is that he is missing. We are verifying informations (but) so far (all were)
negative,” he added.
Mondaya also said that they did not find any dent or scratches on Cartilla’s motorcycle that could indicate if he was forcibly taken.
The motorcycle, Mondaya said, was just lying at one side of the bridge with its key on it.
The police chief also said they could not yet confirm if it were really Cantilla who was picked up by six men on board three motorcycles, as seen by a witness at dawn last Friday.
Mondaya said the witness only said he saw three motorcycles boarded by six men and could not say with certainty that the person they took was Cantilla. /WITH CORRESPONDENT BENJIE B. TALISIC