BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Two dogs, two stories, two cities.
Hobi is a name that does not mean anything for most. In fact, Hobi is the name of a dog.
An abducted dog.
To Emily Villanueva, however, Hobi is more than just a dog.
“I am just so heartbroken,” Emily told DNX days after she reported to police that Hobi, her “son” was snatched just outside their home along CL Montelibano Drive here by what appears to be a minor with several adults on a tricycle based on footage from a closed circuit television camera.
The camera recorded the taking away of Hobi, a Jack Rusell terrier, who was staying with the Villanueva’s for only several months before he was taken away.
Enily, an entrepreneur, was on a personal mercy mission with her husband to areas affected by Typhoon Odette when Hobi was abducted.
“I was blindsided with the loss of Hobi,” Emily wrote to a friend as she shared details about her new and now gone dog.
What was painful was that she was away when the abduction happened.
“When we came home (Saturday) 3pm, this was what greeted me,” Emily recalls how she was told that Hobi was lost.
“I know it is JUST a dog, Hobi sleeps with me. I bring him around when I do errands. He is curious and hyper – just as Jack Ruselles (sic) are,” she adds.
As Emily hopes for the return or rescue of Hobi, in Silay, a city half less than an hour north of here, a dog mourns the death of a policeman who was reportedly burned to death on Christmas eve.
The dog, whose photo appeared on the Facebook page of the Silay City Police Community Relations Facebook page showed what looks like a mongrel sitting in front of a coffin draped with a Philippine flag.
The coffin contained the remains of Corporal Joebert Diasanta, a separate post on the Facebook page of Silay City Mayor Mark Golez showed.
Golez was quoted to have “expressed his deepest and sincere condolences and prayers to the bereaved family, friends, and colleague… of Diasanta.”
The dog was described as an adopted one who “… also shares his grief for the loss of one of his best friends in the PNP.”
