Bulacan town bars swimming at Bakas River after students’ deaths

HIP INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

NORZAGARAY, Bulacan — The town government has prohibited swimming in Bakas River here following the Jan. 7 drowning of two students of the Bulacan State University.

According to Mayor Ade Cristobal, the town does not have enough funds to hire life guards to oversee the seven-kilometer stretch of the Angat River System in their town from where Bakas River branches off.

Cristobal said on Tuesday he asked the municipal council to pass an ordinance that would bar swimming in the river during the rainy season.

The remains of Jaycie Ronwill Balitaosan, 19, and Jericho Burgos, 17, were retrieved on Monday. They were swept by the Bakas River, where they intended to shoot footages for a documentary film.  SFM