The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said yesterday a seminarian at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City has been missing since Monday.
The CBCP secretariat said 34-year-old Bro. Eliseo “Ely” Cadivin was last seen at a popular shopping mall in Tagaytay wearing a black shirt and carrying a black bag.
Last contact with the seminarian was through a mobile phone message he sent to his brother in Manila, saying he had received the P1,500 cash sent by the latter for his birthday.
“Since then, Cadivin has vanished and what puzzled his superiors is that they’ve been trying to call him but his phone only keeps ringing,” the CBCP secretariat said in a statement.
Classmates and superiors of the missing seminarian had little clue where he may have gone as they have started praying for his safety.
Fr. Emmanuel Menguito, prefect of the seminary, said they are “seriously concerned” about the mysterious disappearance of Cadivin.
Menguito believes plain robbery could not be the reason behind the disappearance, stressing the amount the missionary had with him when he disappeared was “too small.”
The priest said they had also been trying to keep in constant contact with the seminarian’s family to check if he had gone home. But they, too, have not received any word.
He said city officials and police authorities were already informed about Cadivin’s disappearance.
The SVD community has also appealed to the people of Tagaytay for information in a bid to locate the seminarian.
Although police have not yet reported any incident of forcible abduction in the city, Church officials are not discounting the possibility that Cadivin was kidnapped.
“It’s possible that he was kidnapped like Father Bossi. But we still have to gather more information and we don’t have leads yet,” CBCP spokesman Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III lamented.