Restaurant manager hangs self after phoning co-worker he would do so

MANILA—A 30-year-old restaurant manager notified a co-worker over the phone of a plan to kill himself and ended their conversation by hanging himself late Tuesday afternoon in Quezon City, police said.

Armando Cequeña, manager of a restaurant at a Manila mall and a resident of 3 Maravilles Street in Barangay Teresita was later found by his co-workers and barangay officials at around 5 p.m. Tuesday, hanging from the stairs of his home, an electrical cord looped around his neck.

PO3 Erickson Isidro of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said that at around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Cequeña phoned his co-worker and friend April Malaya to relate his problems to her.

During their conversation, Isidro reported Malaya as telling investigators, Cequeña said he was going to kill himself because of his problems. Just as she was about to dissuade him from committing suicide, Malaya told investigators she heard a loud thud from the other end of the line and noticed that the restaurant manager was no longer answering.

Isidro said that this prompted the now-worried Malaya and her other co-workers to look for Cequeña’s house in Barangay Sta. Teresita. They immediately informed barangay officials of their concern and asked for their help.

According to Isidro, Malaya and the other restaurant employees saw Cequeña’s condition through a window, which prompted barangay officials to force the door open. The restaurant manager was already dead by the time he was discovered. Bernadette Nicolas and Jeanette  I. Andrade, Philippine Daily Inquirer