Kin of missing Negrense couple in Myanmar appeals for help

Edsil Jess Adalid and his wife Alexis are missing in Myanmar quake. —Photo from Adalid family

BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — A woman has appealed for help in finding her son and daughter-in-law, who remain missing after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28.

Hermosila “Mimi” Adalid, a teacher at the Negros Oriental State University Bais Campus in Bais City, Negros Oriental, said she is counting on the 91-member Philippine contingent that left for Myanmar to find her son, 34-year-old Edsil Jess, and his wife, 25-year-old Alexis Gale.

Edsil teaches music while Alexis Gale is an information and communications technology teacher at the Mandalay International School of Acumen in Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar after Yangon.

READ: Philippines deploys search and rescue team to quake-hit Myanmar

The two were among four Filipino teachers reported missing in Myanmar after the quake.

Philippine humanitarian responders left for Myanmar on April 1 to assist with disaster relief efforts. The team will be there for two weeks.

Family’s request

Bais City Mayor Luigi Marcel Goñi earlier relayed to the Office of Civil Defense the family’s request to join the Philippine team. They were advised against it due to the possible risks.

Adalid said she has no choice for now but to leave it to the experts to find them.

The missing couple has been teaching in Myanmar for about two years, having left the Philippines in 2023. They live in a multistory, four-building complex in Mandalay.

Adalid said she was told the building collapsed during an aftershock. She was further informed that her son’s belongings, including his choir conductor’s coat, were seen in the rubble of the building.

However, the couple was not found at the site, giving her hope that they had escaped before the building collapsed.

Unverified information

Adalid also related that they recently received news that a Burmese national found the two alive in a hospital, although the information could not be verified.

“The Filipino community in Myanmar [is] searching for them,” she said.

Edsil Jess, a graduate of Silliman University, taught at the School of Performing Arts in Bais City before he and his wife moved to Myanmar.