After drinking binge, guard falls from 4th floor

Hours after having a drinking binge with his boss and coworkers, a security guard plunged to his death from the fourth-floor terrace of a building late Wednesday night in Manila.

Police immediately called it an accident and ruled out foul play in the death of Felix Benigno, 35, a resident of Barangay Mayamot, Antipolo City and employee of Blue Ridge Security Agency.

PO2 Jose Gumilan of the Manila Police District homicide section said the incident happened at around 11:30 p.m. at Pietra Building on Vasquez Street near Pedro Gil Street in Malate.

Gumilan said that at around 6 p.m. or several hours before Benigno died, the victim and five other coworkers, including his uncle and Blue Ridge general manager Nelio Balcueva, had a drink at the security agency’s office on the fourth floor of the building.

July Sano, 29, a Pietra security guard under a different agency who witnessed the fall, said victim first snagged several electrical cables, bounced off a parked car, before landing on the pavement,

Gumilan said he was ruling out foul play since there was no sign of a scuffle or a commotion inside the security agency office when he got there immediately after the incident.