Agreed on this, But he recently paid his loan in the local lending section before typhoon hits so if he really wants to runaway, he will not pay that loan and just walk away.
Or he might have thought that a local lender could track him down but DireWolfM14 from halfway across the world during a pandemic - maybe not.
Obviously this is all speculation because asu doesn't communicate. DireWolfM14 has been extremely patient with this. Any honest person with an intent to repay a loan and a year overdue would be going out of their way to keep the lender updated, not hiding.