Hundreds of volunteers joined police officers over the weekend to scour Kagman villages for the two sisters who have been missing since Wednesday last week.
After the Department of Public Safety sought help from the members of community, over a hundred of people showed up at Kagman Community Center at 3 p.m. on Friday,
Just shortly after 2 p.m., close to 100 volunteers had gathered at the center, the designated command post, to sign up.
The volunteers were divided into several teams, each led by police officers. Also participating were U.S. Marshals, Customs and Border Protection officers and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
Our team was led by Sgt. Anthony Macaranas and the other team closest to us was headed by PO1 Joe Muna.
There were about 20 of us on our team, almost half were females. The Variety’s advertising department head Jeanette L. Sarabia and police reporter Andrew De Guzman were among the volunteers.
When we got to the site somewhere in the middle of Kagman 2, Macaranas divided us again into three groups, each with six persons.
We had to go through tall grasses, vines and tangan-tangan still wet from the rain.
We knocked on every door and showed residents pictures of Faloma and Maleina. Some knew the girls and some were relatives. They told us about how they wish that the girls were okay and how shocked they were that this incident could happen on Saipan.
Not a single household was left unchecked during our search.
It was already late in the afternoon, when everybody got together again. We were all tired and the sun was already setting.
There was no sign of Faloma and Maleina but nobody lost hope. All of us wanted to see each other again the next day to continue the search.
Emergency Management Office Director Jack Omar said they did not expect that a lot of people would volunteer.
Arielle Buyum, program manager of the Department of Public Health’s family planning and one of the volunteers, said it was great to see people coming together “in these times of need.”
“I just wish that we find these girls,” she added.
CJ Dela Cruz, a freshman at Northern Marianas College , said it was very exciting to see everybody getting together looking for the girls although they didn’t personally know them.
“I am glad we are having a good turnout of people coming together,” she said. She hoped Faloma and Maleina were okay.
Jermaine Quitugua, the girls’ mother, also joined the search. She was in tears as she thanked everybody for their help and support.
Crime Stoppers coordinator PO2 Jason Tarkong said the search will continue and is carried out 24 hours each day.
“I think that is one of the advantages of being a small tight-knit community,” he added. “Obviously, people are very sensitive to this issue and they are going out of their way to volunteer their time. It is very heart warming.”
