A local government official from Tinoc, Ifugao province has resurfaced after going missing for five days — a disappearance some blamed on a local superstition.
What happened to Tinoc Vice Mayor Fernando Gapuz, however, was nowhere near as odd as what people thought. He was spotted on Wednesday after he was reported missing last Friday, July 19 by the Tinoc Municipal Police Station, The Philippine Star reported.
Ifugao Police Provincial Office director Colonel Romeo Mangwag told radio station Super Radyo dzBB that it was his family and some police officers who found him. However, the location of where he was found was not disclosed.
According to the Gapuzes, the 56-year-old vice mayor’s disappearance was brought by a family problem.
People’s imaginations went wild in trying to figure out what happened to the politician who was last seen riding a bus from Tinoc to Buguias, Benguet province in the morning of July 19.
His disappearance pushed the Tinoc Police to ask the public for help in finding him.
Some, including Tinoc police officer SPO4 Nestor Bulong, believed that Gapuz went missing because a spirit had taken him.
“Here in Tinoc, we believe that there are cases where a spirit brings a person somewhere,” Bulong told Coconuts Manila in Filipino. “These missing persons would re-appear after a few days.”
Gapuz reportedly had just been released from the hospital shortly before he went missing.
According to GMA News, his relatives will not file a case against anyone because of the incident and that they plan to fix the family problem themselves.
Cordillera regional police office director Police Brigadier General Israel Ephraim Dickson told Sun Star that Gapuz is safe and underwent medical checkups in Baguio City.
