Man kills self in Cagayan de Oro evacuation center

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines—Despondent over not being counted among the first batch of evacuees to be relocated to new homes, a 33-year-old man killed himself by thrusting a knife into his belly and then slashing his throat in front of terrified witnesses, including his own three-year-old son, witnesses and members of his family said.

Roy Navarro, a father of three, took his own life in that gruesome fashion Thursday afternoon inside the City Central School here, where his family had been living since flash floods triggered by Tropical Storm Sendong tore through Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City last month.

Witnesses said that before he stabbed himself with a nine-inch kitchen knife in full view of his son and a 16-year-old nephew and other evacuees, Navarro was depressed and had been complaining that his family was not included in the first batch of evacuees to be transferred to a resettlement area funded by the city government in Barangay Calaanan.

Navarro’s wife, Fe, said her husband deeply resented that fact, and it was the only reason she could think of why he would commit suicide. She was away at that precise time on Thursday afternoon.

“I told Roy that we will be listed soon and that he should not worry because it is much safer here than living in a tent in Calaanan. But he wanted to immediately see our name on the list of beneficiaries,” she said. “I told Roy that he needs to wait and not worry, even if it means that we will wait for next week.”

She said that earlier in the day, her husband asked her if the Department of Social Welfare and Development  had given the money they had earned under a cash-for-work program because they could use it for basic needs when they moved into the resettlement area. They had less than a hundred pesos left on Thursday, she said.

Fe said she was not around when her husband took his life as, being a group leader, she was doing errands for her group of evacuees.

She said her duties as group leader for the evacuees sharing the same classroom with her family were not very taxing as their two other sons were with her husband’s parents in Bukidnon. Her husband took care of their youngest son, Jasper, who was left with them.

Jeffrey Engbino, who stays in an adjacent classroom, said he and other evacuees had tried to calm Navarro down  but to no avail.

He said Navarro first thrust the knife into his abdomen.

“He tried to slash my hand when I was trying to prevent him from stabbing himself again, so I stepped away,” Engbino said.

In full view of other terrified evacuees and  his son and nephew, Navarro then slashed his throat with the kitchen knife.

He was rushed to a hospital but died shortly after.

Senior Inspector Ariel Philip Pontillas, commander of police Precinct 1, said witnessing the suicide was very traumatic for those who saw it, especially Navarro’s son.

“He saw it all and it’s traumatic for the boy,” Pontillas said.

Novelyn Mabelo, a social worker, said the social welfare office will take custody of the child.