Hundreds of Filipinos missing in Maui, Hawaii massive wildfires --- By DAVE LLAVANES JR.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Hundreds of Filipinos are among the more than 1,000 missing in the wildfires in Lahaina on Maui Island in Hawaii, the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce said. "Just not to exaggerate, hundreds of Filipinos are missing," Kit Zulueta Furukawa, director of the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce, told GMA Integrated News on Saturday. Filipinos comprise the second largest population on the island of Maui, she added. "On Maui, Filipinos are the second largest population in Lahaina. The majority of the workforce are Filipino, and many of our hotels are there, so there's a lot of hospitality, a lot of small businesses, and a lot of new generation families in Lahaina are Filipinos. Homes are gone, our friends just left there. It's pretty bad over here," Furukawa said. The death toll has so far reached 80 on Friday, authorities said, according to a Reuters report. This number may still go up as search teams with cadaver dogs could still find bodies, officials said. The Maui wildfires fanned by winds of a distant hurricane erupted Tuesday and have torched 1,000 buildings and left thousands homeless. "The number of casualties is still going up; we don't know who they are yet, so search and rescue is still ongoing. We have many, many names in shelters. We have papers upon papers with names of people missing, so search and rescue is still ongoing. People are still looking for friends and family, so it's pretty raw. I can give you the situation on the ground like that, but it's very bad and very depressing here," Furukawa said. Homes According to Hawaii Filipino-American Senator Gilbert Keith Agaran, many Filipino houses were among those burned in the massive wildfire in Lahaina. In a message sent to GMA Integrated News on Saturday, he said the Filipino population in Lahaina is significant, and many of them lost their homes. "Filipinos are a significant number of Lahaina’s population. We lost quite a few people, and a lot of our fellow Filipinos lost everything or a considerable amount of their housing and possessions," Agaran said. DFA: No Pinoys affected A top official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), however, reported the opposite on Sunday, saying no Filipinos were affected by the Maui wildfires as of Friday. “Ang huling balita namin noong Biyernes nu'ng kausap namin si Consul General doon…walang Pilipinong affected kasi karamihan ng mga Pilipino sa Hawaii, wala sa Maui. Island of Maui ‘yun eh,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview. (The last news we had was on Friday when we talked to the Consul General there… No Filipinos were affected because most Filipinos in Hawaii are not in Maui. That's the Island of Maui.) In a later interview on Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday, de Vega said none of the missing have been confirmed yet to be Filipino citizens. “Wala pang balita. Eighty ang mga namatay, wala pa tayong confirmation na Filipino. Pagdasal natin,” he said. (There is still no news. Eighty people died. We still don't have confirmation that there were Filipinos. Let's pray.) De Vega said that it was possible that hundreds of Filipinos are missing, but authorities were still gathering data as the internet and communication lines to the island were still down. “Maari po, pero hindi natin masabi kung talagang Filipino citizens pa kasi sabi ni Consul General Emilio Fernandez, karamihan ng mga Pilipino sa Maui ay American citizens,” he explained. (That is possible, but we could not confirm yet if there were Filipino citizens [among those missing]. Consul General Emilio Fernandez said majority of Filipinos in Maui are American citizens.) The DFA official said there were 25,000 Filipino-Americans in Maui, which comprised 17% of the island’s population. In total, 200,000 Filipino-Americans were staying and/or working in the state of Hawaii. The Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu said concerned families in the Philippines may get in touch with it via 24/7 emergency hotline (+1 808 253 9466), email (honolulu.pcg@dfa.gov.ph), or Facebook page. They may also reach out to OFW Help on Facebook for assistance. According to Hawaii Consul General Emilio Fernandez, authorities are currently focused on search and recovery efforts, which is why the consulate hasn't received official information about the burned houses of Filipino nationals. “Given the significant number of Filipino-Americans residing in Hawaii, including Maui, we can expect to have several members of the Filipino American community whose homes have burnt down. Exact figures from local authorities on this matter are not yet available. The Consulate continues to coordinate with local authorities to obtain latest information," Fernandez told GMA Integrated News via email on Saturday. In Jonathan Andal's report on 24 Oras Weekend on Sunday, Fernandez also said that Filipino teachers recently recruited to Hawaii were safe. "Mayroon rin mga bagong dating na teachers recruited in Hawaii...mga otsenta sila. Out of 80…50 were assigned in the island of Maui. Thankfully they, are accounted for safe in temporary shelters," he said. There is no electricity, and communication is difficult in Lahaina, which is severely affected by the wildfires. More than 1,000 people have been reported missing, and around 1,700 structures have been burned, according to the latest report from Hawaii Governor Josh Green. Cadaver dogs from various parts of America have arrived in Lahaina to help search for the missing tourists and residents. —with a report from Giselle Ombay/KG/BM, GMA Integrated News