Baby boy choked to death

A 10-month-old boy died after he got choked by the necklace he was wearing purportedly to ward off “boyag”, a superstitious belief that is said to cause disease to a victim.

“Wala jud ko gadahom nga masangit akong anak sa iyang kwintas ug mamatay siya (I didn’t expect that he will get choked by his necklace),” Rodel Colina Sr., the victim’s father, told Cebu Daily News.

A shoelace was used as the necklace’s chain while its pendant was taken from a squash, Colina said.

“Ang akong mama ang naghimo sa pendant para boyag unya amoa lang gibutangan ug liston para ma kwintas niya (It was my mother who made the pendant and we just used a shoelace so he can wear it),” Colina said.

The boy was the youngest of four siblings.

Police investigation showed that Elme Cabardo, Colina’s live-in partner and the victim’s mother, left the baby who was sleeping in a hammock in their house in H. Cortes Street in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City yesterday morning.

The mother left the house to pick up her six-year-old son at the Subangdaku Elementary School.

The mother told police that she was shocked to see her son dangling from the hammock when she returned home.

The mother said the body was already cold when she untied the baby.

The baby was taken to a hospital but was declared dead by the attending doctor.

In an interview, Cabaldo said it was possible that the baby woke up while she was away.

The mother surmised that the baby tried to go down from the hammock but his necklace got snagged.

The couple is asking for financial support from the city government to help them bury their child.

The death was an accident based on initial police investigation, PO1 Crestituto Raboy, investigator of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch of the Mandaue police, said.

Raboy said the mother could be charged with reckless imprudence resulting to homicide if a relative decides to file a case against her.