Man Missing Since 2023 Found Wandering in Itogon, Benguet, Brought Home to Anda, Pangasinan
A man from Pangasinan who had been reported missing for years was reunited with his family after a good Samaritan found him walking along a road in Itogon, Benguet.
According to a Daily Tribune report posted at 11:12 a.m. on Sunday, November 8, 2026, resident Genebert Cornel Carantes of Barangay Poblacion saw the man walking unclothed along the road at around 2:30 p.m. on November 4.
Carantes reportedly gave the man food and clothing before bringing him to the Poblacion Fixed Visibility Point to ask for help.
Police officers then gave him food, water, clean clothes, a bath and a haircut. When asked to write his name on a piece of paper, the man wrote the word “Wigte.”
Using that name, the police searched online and found a missing-person post on social media dated January 18, 2023, about a man named Wigte from Barangay Imbo in Anda, Pangasinan. The details matched the man in their care.
The Itogon Municipal Police Station coordinated with local officials in Pangasinan to reach his family. He also underwent a medical checkup, while the Itogon Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) extended welfare assistance.
On November 5, a day after he was found, his relatives and officials from Barangay Imbo arrived in Itogon and identified him as Noel Oduca.
Bombo Radyo Baguio, citing the Itogon police, said he was safely brought back to his family “matapos ang halos apat na taong pagkakawalay” (after almost four years of being apart).
Authorities did not disclose how long Oduca had been missing before the 2023 report or where he had been staying during that time, the Daily Tribune noted.
Police officers, social welfare personnel and barangay officials assisted the family in bringing Oduca home to Pangasinan, a reunion made possible by the quick action of a concerned resident.
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