4 cases of suicide reported within 24 hours in Metro Manila

Four cases of suicide were reported to the police within a span of 24 hours in Metro Manila Tuesday.

The first involved a relative of a retired police official who shot himself inside a motel room in Quezon City on Monday afternoon, according to a police report.

Case investigator Senior Police Officer 2 Christopher Ronquillo said that the body of Luis Christopher Alvarado, 26, whom he identified as the grandson of former Deputy Director General Marino Filart of the Capital Region Command (now known as the National Capital Region Police Office), was found at 12:41 a.m. Tuesday after he did not come out of his room after several hours.

Earlier, the victim checked into Hotel Sogo at the corner of Roces and Quezon Avenues at 12:30 p.m. on Monday. He was by himself, the police said.

When Alvarado failed to check out at around 8 p.m. on Monday, employees of the hotel checked on him and called the police when he failed to answer their repeated knocks on the door of his room.

When they forced open the door, they found him with a gunshot wound in the right temple. He was also holding a .38-cal. revolver.

A police investigation showed that the victim may have killed himself because he was having relationship problems with his girlfriend, Ethel Rodriguez.

The two work at a call center in Makati City.

Rodriguez, who learned of her boyfriend’s death from the police, said she last received a text message from her boyfriend at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

She told the police that she and the victim had been fighting lately over several things, including the victim’s former girlfriend.

In Manila, there were two suicides—a 75-year-old woman who was suffering from an illness and a man who was facing a case in court and couldn’t bear the thought of going to jail.

Jovita Tribiana, a resident of Sandico Street in Tondo, was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors at Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Hospital after she jumped off a bridge.

Police Officer 2 Jose Gumilan of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section said that Tribiana leaped to her death at 3:10 a.m. Tuesday from Del Pan Bridge in Intramuros.

He said that Tribiana jumped from a height of 15 feet as residents in the area tried to dissuade her. She landed on the pavement and was taken by barangay (village) officials to the nearest hospital in an effort to save her.

The case investigator pointed out that based on interviews with the victim’s family, the elderly woman was suffering from asthma and had always complained about how hard it was to cope with her illness.

On the other hand, fear of being jailed allegedly drove a 47-year-old respondent in a trespass to dwelling and malicious mischief case to hang himself on Monday evening, several hours after he attended a court hearing in Manila.

Rolando Baltazar, a resident of San Andres Bukid, was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors at Sta. Ana Hospital where his relatives took him after they found him hanging from a rail in his room.

Meanwhile, a 36-year-old family driver took his own life Tuesday morning in Marikina City by drinking a bottle of silver cleaner, the police said.

The lifeless body of Ruel Tajele was found in his room at the house of his employer, Dr. Mary Ann Santos, in Barangay Malanday.

The police also discovered a notebook where the victim wrote down his problems with his family.—Julie M. Aurelio, Jeannette I. Andrade and Niña Calleja