■ 2 WOMEN REPORTED MISSING IN LAPU-LAPU

Two women who were collecting shellfish in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City were reported missing after the heavy rains last Sunday afternoon. Authorities have not found Helen Gingco, 25, and Jenny Rose Tormon, 29, yet as of yesterday. Merlita Rabago, 35, the sister of Gingco, said that her younger sibling went to Cebu City to get her company uniform. From Cebu City, Rabago said Gingco visited her friend’s boarding house in Buaya and later went to Sitio Saac to collect shellfish with two other friends. Gingco, a cashier of a catering service company, has two children aged one year old and an infant. She is temporarily staying in Sitio Sea Breeze in Barangay Pusok. “Nahibulong nalang mi nga gi-anhian mi pulis. Na- missing lagi kuno akong manghod (We were surprised when police officers visited our house and told us that my sister was missing),” she said. According to the Lapu-Lapu City Public Information Office, the two persons who survived were Glenda Docdoc and Jesica Salise. One of the survivors told Gingco and Tormon not to run as rains fell while they were standing in the sea, which was just knee-deep. Gingco and Tormon reportedly told the survivors that they will run to a hut nearby. After the downpour, Docdoc and Salise did not find a hut in the area. Rabago believed that Gingco and Tormon were taken by an “engkanto” or a supernatural being. Yesterday, divers from Lapu-Lapu City and Buaya barangay workers tried to find the two women, but failed.