The search of a US-based DAILY STAR website reader for a long lost niece in the Philippines was a success.

Arjan Panaligan had emailed the DAILY STAR from America to help locate his long lost niece, Eileen, and yesterday both were finally able to talk to each other over the phone.

Eileen Panaligan Miles, who now lives in Iloilo with her husband, Teddy, and their two children, was reunited not just with her uncle but also with her aunts and nieces who are now based in Chicago , Illinois .

It was 9 a.m. yesterday when Eileen received a call from her relatives in the United States and at first, she was speechless because she didn't know what to say to them.

After getting the email address of Arjan Panaligan from the DAILY STAR, she decided to send him a message informing him how to contact her.

Eileen, 35, lost contact with her relatives on the side of her father, Paul Hadji, after he died in Dumaguete City almost 30 years ago.

After her father died, her mother Premitiva Melgar decided to move to Manila where Eileen finished her elementary and high school studies. Her mother remarried and they returned to Bacolod sometime in the 90s.

Unknown to Eileen, her uncle Arjan was looking for her as she is the eldest grandchild in their family. In his letter to the DAILY STAR, published on Nov. 17, Arjan said that asking help through the paper was his last chance of finding his niece.

Every time he comes home to the Philippines from the States, he tries to look for Eileen but fails, Arjan wrote.

Eileen said she and her mother heard that the Panaligan siblings had migrated to America . Lack of finances had also prevented them from visiting other members of the clan in Dumaguete, she said.

This Christmas is the happiest for me, Eileen said. Although she hardly knows any of her Panaligan relatives, hearing their voices on the phone and sensing their love and concern for her made her cry, she said.

Aside from one picture of her father and the surname that she carries, she does not possess anything to remind her of the other side of her family, she said.

Next year, her uncle Arjan and his family will come for a reunion in Dumaguete. Eileen said she looks forward to meeting the relatives she never knew yet, in her heart, she truly loves.*NAB

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