INQUIRER FILES
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — An 11-year-old boy who joined his peers for a picnic in a river at Barangay Pasonanca, about 5.6 km away from the city proper, drowned when the river suddenly swelled and swept him away by the current on New Year’s Day.
Abdul Aziz Yapong, 11, a resident of Barangay Santa Catalina, had already been in the water for hours and was oblivious to the swelling of the river whose strong current had swept him away, and he ended up in one of the culverts.
Rescuers recovered his body at Pasonanca spillway, Kilometer 7 in Upper Pasonanca, shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday, January 1, according to Elmeir Apolinario, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer here.
Stricter swimming restrictions
Apolinario said the boy was the first reported fatality in this city for 2025, but similar incidents in the past year prompted him to see the need to impose restrictions on swimming in some rivers where there were histories of accidents and deaths.
“I have not come across [an ordinance] that prohibits people from swimming in rivers unless it’s in the watershed area or the protected zone,” he said in an interview.
“I have to look into some cases in the past as a basis for legislation for the safety of residents. We will also discuss this matter with the barangays on how to prevent similar occurrences,” Apolinario added.
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Last December 25, four-year-old Ameer Zayn Joepakkal, drowned while his family was doing the laundry in the Tulungatung River in Barangay Tulungatung.
Due to a sudden gush of river water following days of heavy rains, Ameer was carried away by the swelling river, his body was found the next day in another barangay.
On July 12, six people, three of them minors, died due to the sudden swelling of the river and landslides in several barangays here.
Among the victims, Nica Ortega, 29, and her son JM died in the landslide at Sitio Anuling, Barangay Pamucutan; Leonilo Moret, 47, and his son Justine, 10, also from Sitio Anuling, Barangay Pamucutan, drowned in the river at the height of the floods; while Jose Ray Francisco, 53, of Barangay Vitali, and Sonnyboy Jamal, 9, of Barangay Calarian, also drowned in a river.