Photo: From left to right: Erlinda Varela Guce, Pacita Varela De Guzman, and Josefina Varela Baysic were reported missing for a week now following their connecting flight from US that landed in China on their way home to the Philippines. To date, their families have no idea on the location of the three women.
Three Filipina senior citizens who were on their way home back to the Philippines from the United States have been missing in China according to their families.
John Guce, son of one of the senior citizens said that 77-year-old Pacita Varela De Guzman, 72-year-old Erlinda Varela Guce, and 71-year-old Josefina Varela Baysic are scheduled to arrive in Pudong International Airport in China as a stop over from their flight from the United States on August 10.
The connecting flight was scheduled to arrive at the Ninoy Aquino Intenational Airport (NAIA) on that same day but none of them arrived.
Guce told Inquirer.net that his cousin Marlon David received a call from an unknown number and said that she was Erlinda. She informed Marlon David that their flight was cancelled because of the bad weather.
Erlinda reportedly told Marlon that the airline will shoulder their accommodation and food expenses while they are all waiting for the next available flight.
“Nakitawag si Linda, yung nanay ko, sa isa sa mga katabi nilang pasahero na Pinoy dun, sinabi na delayed yung flight nila kasi masama raw ang panahon at iche-check-in sila sa hotel bali madaling araw yun ng Sunday, August 11,” Guce told Inquirer in an interview.
He said that this was the first and last time they had heard from their mother and her companions.
The family tried to contact the unknown number the morning after but he said that no longer knew the location of the three women.
“Nauuna kasi akong umalis para ihatid sa hotel at naiwan pa sila kaya hindi ko alam kung saang hotel sila’,” the owner of the number told Guce’s cousin.
The family tried to locate their relatives through the local office of the airline here in Manila.
The family also reached out to the Philippine Embassy in Shanghai and in the United States to help them search for the three women.
Another passenger advised Guce’s cousin that the flight did not land on Pudong airport but in Wuhan Tianhe airport because of the bad weather.
The office of the airline in Eastern Shanghai, however, said that there were no records of the three women boarding the said flight.
“Doon kami natakot, nasaan na sila? Bakit hindi sila kumo-contact? These are retired teachers so hinda naman sila yung tipong walang alam. These are retired teachers, kung hindi naman restricted makakatawag sila, may ways, makakatawag sila dahil may baon din naman silang perang pantawag,” Marlon told Inquirer in another interview.
Photo from: John Florencio Gace
