By Dustin Brown
A week following the disappearance of his son from an Astoria apartment, Filipino tourist Rico Jabay is relying on sweat and tenacity to find him.
Jabay, 52, spent all of Monday evening biking along the East River shoreline and onto Roosevelt and Randalls islands, passing out fliers and searching for answers as he has done every day since his son failed to return home.
Vincarlo Jabay, 19, was last seen by his father at 3 p.m. on Aug. 6 after they ate lunch together at the 31-31 29th St. apartment of the elder Jabay’s nephew, Aldo Navarro, where the two are staying during their monthlong vacation in New York.
Rico Jabay discovered his son’s absence when he awoke from a three-hour nap around 6 p.m. Although he noticed the key they shared was missing and concluded that his son had simply stepped out, the elder Jabay grew worried when the teen had not returned by 10 p.m.
“I decided to get out, I cannot keep back,” Rico Jabay said.
He wandered the neighborhood until the next morning, when he reported his son missing.
The NYPD announced the son’s disappearance last Thursday, but officers at the 114th Precinct said they were not at liberty to discuss the case.
The pair came to New York for a vacation on July 29 after Vincarlo Jabay was given clearance by his doctors. The teenager was being treated for a traumatic head injury he sustained after tripping down a stairwell in March, which required surgery for the removal of two blood clots on his brain.
“He was traumatized and he needed a new environment,” Rico Jabay said.
They had previously spent a week in Los Angeles and were planning on staying in New York for about a month.
Rico Jabay has transformed the 29th Street apartment, where he and his son were staying, into a no-frills command center for the search.
Bus maps for each of the five boroughs are taped to the walls with brown packing tape, along with a detailed street map of Queens.
“I have to get acquainted with New York,” Rico Jabay said.
The wall is also covered with yellow sheets torn from a legal pad on which Rico Jabay has listed phone numbers for television stations that may cover the case as well as a running list of monetary gifts friends have given to help out with expenses.
He has also posted signs at subway stations and across the neighborhood with a photograph of the teen, contact information for the 114th Precinct and a home number where he can be reached.
“He’s a very innocent person,” Rico Jabay said. “He must have been impaired that he cannot come back, or I am banking on the idea that some people took him maybe.”
The missing teen is in his fourth year of high school in the Philippines and has plans to attend college in the upcoming year, his father said.
His 24-year-old brother and mother are currently in the Philippines.
Vincarlo Jabay, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds, has a thin build, medium skin complexion, brown eyes and black hair, according to the police description. He was last seen wearing a yellow green hat, black V-neck shirt and green camouflage pants.
The teen’s father said that while his son does not speak English well, he understands the language perfectly. His native tongue is Tagalog Visayan, a dialect of the national language of the Philippines.
Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the Crimestoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS or the Missing Persons Squad at 212-374-0319.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
