Wife of missing Pinoy flying to Saipan to personally appeal for help

SUSUPE, Saipan – The wife of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who has been reported missing for 37 days is flying to the US territory of Saipan on Sunday to personally appeal for help in finding her husband, GMANews.TV learned. Alex Matubis, 47, has been reported missing since July 29. The blue Toyota pickup truck he had been driving until the day of his disappearance was found 18 days later, but police investigators have yet to locate him. Matubis, a husband and a father of two children now living in Laguna province, south of Manila, has been working as a draftsman/surveyor with Castro & Associates on Saipan Island for almost 23 years. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Division of Immigration has no record indicating that Matubis exited Saipan since the day he was last seen. Saipan is the capital of the CNMI. His wife, Maria Luisa Fatima Matubis, or “Marilou," will be arriving in Saipan at around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 7, via Northwest Airlines. Irene Tantiado, a worker rights advocate, has been helping Mrs. Matubis in securing a visitor’s entry permit to enter Saipan. While here, Tantiado and others will be helping Mrs. Matubis in getting around the island to personally know the results of police investigation into her husband’s disappearance, and appeal for help in locating him. This will be Mrs. Matubis’ third time to visit Saipan. “If Alex (Matubis) is still alive and we are hoping he still is, his wife is hoping that her coming here will make him come out. She wants to know what the police have discovered so far because she fears this will become cold case without follow up and continuous investigation," Tantiado, from Cebu, told GMANews.TV on Thursday afternoon. Mrs. Matubis, according to Tantiado, will be meeting with police investigators at the CNMI Department of Public Safety for an update on her husband’s case. Saipan is only about three hours away from Manila by plane. But due to lack of direct flights, Mrs. Matubis has to transit through Japan from Manila before flying to Saipan. Mrs. Matubis will also be holding a press conference on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Shirley’s Restaurant in Garapan, Saipan. Tantiado and other members of the Filipino community on Saipan will help Mrs. Matubis in getting around Saipan. Tantiado said Mrs. Matubis will stay at her house. Alex Matubis’ family shouldered the airfare of Mrs. Matubis to travel to Saipan. “Isa rin akong asawa at naiintindihan ko ang hirap ng malayo ka sa mahal mo sa buhay. Mahirap para kay Marilou ang hindi malaman kung buhay pa o patay na ang asawa niya. Mananawagan siya doon sa mga taong may alam kung nasaan ang asawa niya (I am also a wife and I understand how hard it is to be far away from your loved one. It’s hard for Marilou not knowing whether her husband is still alive or dead. She will appeal to those who know something about her husband’s whereabouts)," Tantiado said. Police have yet to receive new leads about Alex Matubis’s disappearance, except for the Aug. 16 discovery of the pickup truck he was last seen driving on July 29. The vehicle, owned by the son of his employer, was found abandoned near the Kalabera Cave in Marpi, the northernmost part of Saipan. Police have yet to determine whether it was Alex Matubis or someone else who drove the pickup truck to the area where it was found. Matubis hails from Camarines Sur province in the eastern region of Bicol. This is the fist time in recent years that a Filipino contract worker has been reported missing for over a month in the CNMI where about 10,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans currently work and live. The Filipino community has been helping in trying to locate Matubis, who is described by those who know him as “intelligent, cheerful, always goes to church and God-fearing." Anyone with information about Matubis is being asked to call the Criminal Investigation Bureau of DPS at 664-9042 or 664-9047. His younger brother, Arnold Matubis, who is also an OFW in Saipan, gave his contact numbers for any information about his brother: 234-5419 or 484-0226. Alex Matubis’ personal belongings, including his passport, were found in his barracks. - GMANews.TV