Police facilitate homeless man’s return to Philippines
Very soon, Jonas Paule’s sojourn in Solano County will come to an end as he boards a plane back to his native Philippines.
His brief stay wasn’t all roses, he admits, but credits the members of the Vacaville Police Department’s Community Response Team for getting him off the streets and, this month, back home.
“I’m thankful they helped me,” said Paule, 45. “I was scared.”
As he tells it, he came over from the Philippines about a year ago to be with his mom, who lived in the Suisun area. He found a job making deliveries on his bicycle and all was well. Until his mother died, resulting in a split with the people she was living with.
Paule had nowhere to live, lost his passport and had no idea how to get a new one.
“I was camping everywhere and sometimes under a bridge,” he recalled. He was afraid most of the time, knowing no one and having no resources to make life better.
Somehow, he ended up in Vacaville. He would move from spot to spot and recently came to the attention of the Police Department’s CRU members.
“He didn’t want to go to a shelter,” advised Detective Ron Jacobson. “So I asked him where he wanted to go and he said the Philippines.”
A bit stymied by the request, a veteran officer, Erwin Ramirez, stepped up to help. CRU connected with a Filipino Community Center in Vallejo, which helped facilitate a meeting with the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, a new passport and a plane ticket.
Meanwhile, Paule waited for word in a motel, where CRU temporarily put him up.
Paule expressed excitement to return and to see his brother, who is slated to collect him at the airport.
Jacobson said the team is happy to help and appreciative of everyone who played a part in making the reunion happen.
“Our goal is to find people housing and treatment,” he shared. “This is my first time (placing someone) in a completely different country. But whether 10 miles or 6,000 miles, the result’s the same.”