Boy dies, 25 fall ill after eating expired canned goods, snacks in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY—An 11-year-old boy died of food poisoning while 25 others were taken ill after eating expired canned meat they found in a vacant lot in Barangay Patalon here on Monday.

A total of 26 children were rushed to the nearby Labuan District Hospital due to vomiting and loose bowel movement since Wednesday afternoon but one of them died on Thursday, local authorities said.

The fatality, Darren Sumulang, was one of six siblings who complained of stomach ache, vomiting and diarrhea on Wednesday, according to his father, Jerry Sumulang.

Jerry said six of his 10 children had similar complaints and he decided to bring them to a local healer since he had no money to consult a medical doctor. On Thursday night, however, he decided to rush Darren to the hospital when his condition deteriorated. “But upon reaching the hospital, we were informed that he was already dead,” the father added.

Sumulang, a farmer belonging to the indigenous Subanon tribe, was not around when his children and other kids from their neighborhood in Purok 5, Sitio Malubog, brought home on Monday the boxes of goods they scavenged from a nearby private property owned by Gaudencio Rojas, the village chief of Patalon, and his brother Carmelito.

Locate the culprit

Rojas, in an interview on Friday, said they were not aware that their property was used to dump the expired goods.

“We are investigating this matter now. We have been instructed to locate the driver [who brought the goods] and the owner of the disposed goods. That property is gated and there was no proper permission from us to use our property to dispose of garbage,” Rojas added.

According to Sumulang, his 14-year-old daughter cooked some of the canned meat for their meal on Wednesday while the other kids were munching on mixed nuts and chocolates that they also scavenged.

Sonny, another son of Sumulang, said the canned goods had 2022 expiration dates, and noted that a number of cans had some rust.

Lorenzo said police investigators recovered empty cans of the goods for examination by the City Health Office. The goods included canned beef loaf and sardines, and various snack food.

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