\u201cStop making prank calls and spreading rumors.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is what Sorensen Media Group Saipan branch manager Tina B. Palacios has to say to some community members who call radio stations, the family\u2019s phone lines, and volunteer hotlines just to give false information, and, oftentimes, \u201cbad rumor\u201d about the two girls who went missing two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some people out there who are really mean and would call us to say that we should go to the hospital morgue to identify the girls\u2019 bodies, or that they found the girls in plastic bags. People need to stop that. These are two missing human beings. They need to stop making up stories,\u201d she said in a phone interview yesterday.<\/p>\n
Palacios, who is the grandaunt of sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk, called on these people to be more sympathetic to the girls who have been deprived of their safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever is playing around needs to stop. This is not a joke. It\u2019s sad. We need to find the girls,\u201d she told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Palacios said she is close to both Faloma Luhk, 10, and Maleina Luhk, 9, who were reportedly last seen sitting on a drainage cement slab across the bus stop near their As Teo residence around 6:10am on May 25, more than two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Faloma was last seen wearing a white blouse and a pair of blue jeans while Maleina was last seen wearing a light green shirt with a butterfly design and blue jeans. Police learned that the two sisters, who are both students of Kagman Elementary School, missed their 6:30am bus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe two girls do come to my house and stay on weekends. I would take them with me. They\u2019re not strangers to my home,\u201d said Palacios.<\/p>\n
She said people who spread insensitive jokes and rumors have nothing better to do. \u201cI hope they get caught and put in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe instead of starting rumors, if you got nothing better to do, just volunteer in the search efforts. Help us find the girls,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
[B]Cash reward[\/B]<\/p>\n
Palacios disclosed that SMG, which airs Power 99, The Kat 97.9, and ABC 7 Saipan, has offered a $1,000 monetary reward for any information leading to the recovery of the Luhk sisters.<\/p>\n
SMG\u2019s reward is in addition to the $1,000 being offered by Crime Stoppers, another $1,000 from IT&E, and the substantial $10,000 offer by the FBI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put out the reward the moment we knew that the girls were missing,\u201d said Palacios.<\/p>\n
According to her, people should help in the search efforts even without the reward but an \u201cextra something\u201d will drive people to try and look harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like when you lose something you love, you always put out a reward to get that something back,\u201d she explained. \u201cUnfortunately in this case, it\u2019s two human beings who are missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
[B]\u2018Awesome and phenomenal\u2019[\/B]<\/p>\n
Palacios commended local and federal law enforcers as well as community volunteers who are involved in the islandwide search operation that has been going on for two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen the hard work put in by the off-island and our own enforcement and even the volunteers. They\u2019re out there and they\u2019re not giving up. It\u2019s so awesome. The support that they have given the family is just phenomenal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
According to Palacios, these law enforcers and volunteers have their own families or have work to do but they\u2019re taking time off to help them find the two girls. \u201cThey\u2019re very determined to find those two girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the family is aware that the chances of finding a missing person after 48 hours are slim, Palacios said they remain optimistic. Each time her phone rings, she always hopes that it\u2019s any of the two girls who would tell her, \u201cAuntie, come pick us up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to believe that the girls are still alive and they\u2019re coming back home soon. Everyone is being positive. We\u2019re hoping for a beautiful reunion. We\u2019re really praying for that,\u201d said Palacios.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone has them, I hope they\u2019re taking care of them. If you know who has them, tell them they should return the girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time that it\u2019s happened to our island and I hope this is also going to be the last. No family should go through something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palacios called on the community to call their radio stations at 235-7996 or 7999 if they have the information on the whereabouts of the missing girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, personally and from my family, to the FBI, local enforcers, the volunteers, everybody that is helping out with the case, mas dangkulu na si yuus maase. I want them to know that we truly appreciate your support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cStop making prank calls and spreading rumors.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is what Sorensen Media Group Saipan branch manager Tina B. Palacios has to say to some community members who call radio stations, the family\u2019s phone lines, and volunteer hotlines just to give false information, and, oftentimes, \u201cbad rumor\u201d about the two girls who went missing two weeks ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}