Scavenger found hanging from tree on Araneta Avenue

By: Jeannette I. Andrade - 11 years ago

MANILA, Philippines — A 23-year-old scavenger, described by police as despondent after his son was taken away from him by his first wife, hanged himself with a nylon cord from a tree on the median strip of a normally busy throughfare in Quezon City early Wednesday.

Roger Amores, who lived in a cart along Araneta Avenue, was found by his live-in partner hanging by the neck from a tree in the middle of the wide median strip on the thoroughfare near the intersection with Del Monte Avenue in Barangay (village) Sienna.

Police Officer 2 Anthony Tejerero of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said he learned from Amores’ new partner, Mary Grace Maceda, that the scavenger had been depressed since his son was taken away from him by his former wife, the boy’s mother.

“The witness told us that he had been very sad over losing his child,” the investigator told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Tejerero said Amores’ body was found around 4 a.m. Wednesday by Maceda, who had gone in search of him after he went missing in the middle of the night.

Maceda, realizing that her partner was dead, immediately sought the help of village officials in the area and the police to have him cut down from the tree.