Catherine Camilon on Instagram
It’s been 10 days since Batangas-based beauty queen Catherine Camilon was last seen or heard from, and her family is not losing hope that she will come back home safe.
The Philippine National Police-Calabarzon, however, gave assurance that they will bring home the Miss Grand Philippines finalist alive and safe after they recovered leads as to the whereabouts of the beauty queen. Camilon was declared a “missing person” by the Batangas Police Provincial Office last October 19.
In a radio interview, Brigadier General Paul Kenneth Lucas, Calabarzon police chief, said investigations are ongoing to locate the former school teacher and the people that she last talked to, or may have information about her disappearance.
“Ongoing pa yung investigation natin kung ano ba talaga yung nangyari dito kay Ms. Catherine, ‘no,” he said on the “Ano Sa Palagay N’yo?” program anchored by Ali Sotto at Pat-P Daza. (Investigations are ongoing to determine what really happened to Ms Catherine.)
The police chief said while they cannot divulge yet the information that they have, there is a good possibility that Camilon is still alive based on the leads that they have gathered.
“We are committing na si Catherine, we’ll bring home Catherine safe. Unang-una, meron nang initial report, ‘no, which I cannot divulge, kung ano po yung natanggap namin na report sa investigation. We are very confident na itong si Miss Catherine, e, buhay pa,” he said.
(We are committed to bring Catherine home safe. First of all, we have an initial report, which I cannot divulge yet. But we are confident that Ms. Catherine is still alive.)
Despite this development, Lucas said that the police have found another lead after verifying the last known place that the beauty queen had been to before she went missing.
“Kagabi meron na silang lead kung saan yung huling napuntahan at nakita itong si Catherine, aside don sa mall diyan sa Batangas… At itong CCTV napakalaking bagay, tulong sa imbestigasyon na ginagawa natin,” he said.
(Last night, the police obtained a lead as to where Catherine last went to, aside from the mall in Batangas… and then we have CCTV that provides a big help to the investigation we are doing.)
Lucas was apparently referring to the CCTV footage of the beauty queen walking by herself at a shopping mall in Lemery, Batangas. The footage was taken around 7 p.m. of October 12, believed to be about the same time when she was last contacted by her family wherein she told her mother that she was supposedly at a gasoline station in Bauan, Batangas.
“Paglabas ‘yon from that mall, but the last text is sa Bauan siya nagpunta. Negative tayo sa mga CCTV doon (That video was taken from the mall exit, but her last text is that she went to Bauan. Our CCTVs there does not indicate that she went there),” said Police Captain Pauline Fernando, PIO Chief of the Batangas Provincial Police Office based on an interview by GMA Regional TV.
With these developments, Lucas said he has ordered his men to intensify their search operations so that Camilon can be brought back to her family the soonest time possible.
Camilon was one of the candidates at the Miss Grand Philippines 2023, along with actress Herlene Budol. EDV