ErgoCha record spotless prior to milk tea deaths, says sanitation exec

The ErgoCha tea shop in Sampaloc has been ordered closed by the Manila government following two deaths there on Thursday. PHOTO BY NESTOR CORRALES/INQUIRER.net

The ErgoCha Milk Tea Shop on Bustillos Street in Sampaloc, Manila, had no sanitary violation prior to the fatal incident on Thursday.

Milagros Valenzuela, district sanitary officer of Manila, said that ErgoCha had been operating for more than a year, and it was only on Thursday when customer Suzaine Dagohoy and owner William Abrigo died that her office recorded an untoward incident involving the milk tea shop.

On Thursday, April 9, Dagohoy and her boyfriend, Arnold Aydalla, ordered a Hokkaido-flavored milk tea at the ErgoCha store.

Dagohoy and Aydalla complained that the milk tea served to them was foul-tasting.

READ: 2 die after drinking milk tea in Manila

The shop owner William Abrigo denied the claim and even tasted the milk tea to prove that there was nothing wrong.

According to police reports, Aydalla took a sip of the milk tea and immediately spat it out. His girlfriend also spat out the drink after her boyfriend handed the milk tea to her.

READ: Milk tea kills 2 in Manila in 3 minutes; police can’t say what happened

Minutes after, Dagohoy collapsed to the floor, while some men came to rescue her.

Ray Fernandez, the pedicab driver who saw Dagohoy collapsed, said her mouth was foaming.

“Tumutulo yung laway ng babae tapos pagsilip ko ng ganun bumubula na ‘yung bibig (She was salivating, and then her mouth just started to foam),” Fernandez said

After getting help from his fellow pedicab drivers, Fernandez said he rushed Dagohoy to the emergency room of the Ospital ng Maynila.

Aydalla and Abrigo were also rushed to the same hospital.

Contrary to earlier reports, police records show that Dagohoy died at 3:36 p.m., while Abrigo died at 5:40 p.m.

Aydalla, meanwhile, is now in stable condition.
No immediate medical attention?

Fernandez lamented that had they been given immediate medical attention, the two could have survived.

The 49-year-old pedicab driver said that after he rushed Dagohoy to the emergency room, the woman was placed in a wheel chair and no hospital staff immediately attended to her.

He said no one attended to Dagohoy until his fellow pedicab driver shouted and said, “Ano ba kulay ube na yung babae (Somebody do something; she’s already turning blue),” referring to Dagohoy.

Autopsy report

According to Senior Police Office 2 Jonathan Bautista of the Manila Police District, police submitted a sample of the milk tea to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday,  adding the results would be released early next week.

READ: FDA eyes cyanide in milk tea deaths

Bautista said they had yet to receive a copy of the autopsy reports to find out the cause of the death of the two victims. IDL