“We are very hopeful and our spirits are very high — my granddaugthers are alive,” Quitugua told the Variety.
Those who want to join the house-to-house visits should proceed to the Quitugua residence in As Teo, he added.
Quitugua said they believe they will find the missing children.
A witness, he added, reported seeing the two walking on the roadside near Kagman Market on Wednesday afternoon.
“There are many leads coming in and we are all verifying them,” Quitugua said.
He urged community members who may have any information to visit the command post of the Department of Public Safety at the Kagman Community Center or call 911.
According to Quitugua, a neighbor saw the children, who are students of Kagman Elementary School, at the bus stop at about 6:10 a.m. on Wednesday.
The school bus arrived in the next five to seven minutes, Quitugua added.
But the bus driver gave conflicting statements, he said.
Had they been informed immediately that the two children did not board the bus, Quitugua said they could have responded right away.
Quitugua said whoever is holding his granddaughters “will be punished because that is kidnapping.”
Asked by the Variety if the incident involves a family matter, Quitugua said his family has been granted by the court legal custody of the children.
Their parents have separated — the father is a former police officer while the mother, Quitugua’s daughter, resides on Guam. Quitugua and his wife are looking after their granddaughters.
Variety learned that the Department of Public Safety’s Search and Rescue Unit and the Tactical Enforcement Response Team have been mobilized since Thursday and are assisting in the ongoing search and investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshal Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies have also joined the search for the two children.
‘A big wake-up call’
The incident is a “big wake-up call” to the community, said Glen Dikito, block captain of the Neighborhood Watch Task Force, as he urged community members to join their group.
The task force, which aims to deter any commission of crime in the villages, would be a great help to law enforcers if it is supported by community members, he added.
“If those were our children, how would we feel?” he asked.
Although they only have a few active members in Kagman, Dikito said they immediately alerted their group when they received the information about the possible abduction of the two children.
He said he has already told his granddaughters to be “observant” and to stay at the house.(With Junhan B. Todeno)
