Baguio police: Crimes down but suicides, homicide could be from effect of lockdown blues

PRESENCE. Baguio policemen gather in white protective gear have been visible in every corner of the summer capital since the lockdown and its transition on June 1 to a modified general community quarantine. Crimes during the curfew continue to dip. VINCENT CABREZA INQ

BAGUIO CITY — Baguio crimes continue to slide down as more people resume their business and work routines under a modified general community quarantine, according to the Baguio City Police Office.

Major offenses dropped by 67 percent from June 1, when the city shifted to MGCQ, compared to the same period last year, said Police Col. Allen Rae Co, Baguio police director.

The first two weeks of the enhanced community quarantine in March – when all of Luzon was locked down – saw a 74 percent drop in Baguio crimes, compared to the same period in 2019, he said.

But the police and medical experts are digging into 8 cases of self-inflicted harm and homicides during the months-long curfew which could have been triggered by depression, Co said.

A 64-year-old man, who may have killed himself due to fears he had contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is the oldest in that list, Co said. His test result shows that the older man had not been infected, the police official said.

The quarantine may also be tied to the reported suicide attempt of a 7-year-old boy who died in a hospital at the end of May, for which his guardians have been charged for murder on June 10, said Co.

He said witnesses claim one of the boy’s guardians appeared distraught and may have accidentally harmed the victim out of frustration.

The boy was found hanging from a scarf that was strapped to a window grill on May 30 and was rushed to a hospital where he died on May 31. But physicians found contusions on his body, prompting the police to begin a probe.

The boy’s aunt and relatives, however, spirited the boy’s remains to Ifugao province on June 1, purportedly for his burial on June 4 there, Co said.

The aunt, Loly Ann Dalipog, was intercepted by policemen in the Benguet town of Buguias, who alerted the BCPO. The city’s forensic examiner was able to conduct an autopsy of the boy in Ifugao when the prosecutors of Ifugao and Baguio intervened.

On June 11, the BCPO charged Dalipog and her husband Efren for murder, as well as for child abuse. The couple, and two men involved in delivering the boy’s casket to Ifugao, were also charged for obstruction of justice and for violating quarantine rules.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong, in a Wednesday (June 10) news conference, said a team of volunteers, who include psychologists and psychiatrists, have set up online counseling services to aid people suffering from mental anxiety due to the quarantine.

They’ve also conducted stress debriefing sessions with medical workers and village leaders, who are at the forefront of the battle against the disease, the mayor said.