POLICEMEN yesterday rescued a troubled 30-year-old farmer who tried to commit suicide by climbing a lamppost in the middle of MC Briones Avenue, Mandaue City.
Police also climbed an aerial ladder of a fire truck to talk down the farmer from Danao City.
He resisted at first and clung tightly to the 20-foot lamppost.
After a few minutes, he let go and allowed members of the Speial Weapons and Tactics Team to guide him down at about 11 a.m.
His action caused a traffic jam on the national highway.
At the barangay Centro police station, the farmer said he planned to kill himself by jumping off because of personal problems.
He said his 3-year-old son was in the hospital with a fractured foot while he suspected his partner was having an affair with another man.
He said he planned to walk home to Danao City from the hospital to get his PhilHealth card.
Wen he reached Mandaue City, he said he saw a policeman and suddenly got scared and then ran to the center island and climbed the lamppost.
The farmer said he wasn’t in the right frame of mind because he was brooding about his problems.
Police said they would let the farmer undergo a drug test.
The farmer was detained at the police station pending the filing of a minor charge of alarm and scandal. /Correspondents Fe Marie Dumaboc and Norman V. Mendoza