Long-missing man reunited with family
A MAN who had been missing for nearly four years has been reunited with his family in Pangasinan, thanks to the intervention of a concerned individual and local authorities in Itogon, Benguet.
Photograph courtesy of PNP ITOGON MPS
ITOGON, Benguet — A man from Pangasinan who had been missing for years was reunited with his family after a resident found him walking along a road in Itogon and brought him to the police for assistance.
Genebert Cornel Carantes, a resident of Barangay Poblacion in Itogon, reportedly spotted the man walking unclothed along the road at around 2:30 p.m. on 4 November.
Carantes gave him food and clothing before bringing him to the Poblacion Fixed Visibility Point for assistance.
Police officers provided the man with food, water, clean clothes, a bath and a haircut.
When officers asked him to write his name on a piece of paper, he wrote the word “Wigte.”
Police then searched online and found a social media missing-person report dated 18 January 2023, concerning a man named Wigte from Barangay Imbo in Anda, Pangasinan. The details matched the individual in their custody.
The Itogon police coordinated with local officials in Pangasinan to contact the man's family.
A lawyer and the Itogon Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office arranged a medical examination and welfare assistance for the man.
The day after he was found, family members and officials from Barangay Imbo, Anda, arrived in Itogon and identified him as Noel Oduca.
Authorities did not disclose how long Oduca had been missing before the 2023 report was posted or where he had been during that period.
Municipal police officers, social welfare personnel and barangay officials assisted the family in arranging his return to Pangasinan.