Teenage neighbors of Toledo City vice mayor drown at sea

They weren’t good swimmers, so said their families and relatives.

But four teenagers of barangay Luray II, Toledo City, didn’t have second thoughts about wading deep in the waters 100 meters away from the shore.

As it turned out, they didn’t make it to shore before lunchtime.

The four teenagers, all neighbors of Toledo City Vice Mayor Arlene Zambo, were recovered by fishermen but they failed to make it after being rushed to a nearby district hospital.

Police identified the fatalities as 16-year-old Mae Ariate, her 14-year-old cousins Dindo and Joseph Blanco and their 14-year-old neighbor, Jason Asuzenas. There was no sign of foul play, they said.

Their deaths came even as a woman in her 40s was found lifeless and floating in a fish sanctuary by a fisherman in barangay Alegria, Cordova town yesterday morning.

Toledo City police said the four teenagers went with their step-grandmother, Luzminda Dino, to gather sisi or sea corals in barangay Dumlag, Toledo City, located 50 kilometers away from Cebu City.

High tide

Dino told police that the teenagers asked permission to take a bath in the sea.

The four teenagers swam 100 meters away from the shore while Dino said she was left alone to gather sisi.

At 11:30 a.m., Dino said she can no longer see the four teenagers. Dino asked help from the fishermen and residents in the area.

A group of fishermen rescued the four unconscious teenagers and immediately rushed them to the Toledo City District Hospital on board the barangay’s multicab.

Doctors conducted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) but were unable to revive the four teenagers.

SPO1 Benedicto Bobilles of the Toledo City police precinct said the relatives were convinced the teenagers died of drowning.

He said an autopsy to be done at the St. Therese Funeral Homes needs consent from the relatives. Bobilles said the high tide was about to sink that time.

The families of the four teenagers told the police that the four teenagers are not used to the seawaters.

“Dili anad ug dagat (The four teenagers are not used to the seawaters),” Bobilles quoted them as saying.

Full report

Bobilles said the four teenagers lived in a home situated on a hilly portion located two and three kilometers away from the sea.

Bobilles said Asuzenas’ parents already passed away and he lives with his elder sister, Mylene.

All four teenagers are students of the Toledo City Central School.

Bobilles said Ariate was an out-of-school youth and Dindo was supposed to graduate from the elementary grade in March.

The Toledo City government arranged for the acquisition of coffins for the four children.

Vice Mayor Zambo told Cebu Daily News that she was with her husband when the families of the victims went to her home and asked for help.

Zambo said she had yet to receive a full report of the incident. She said the area where they drowned was known to have a strong current.

Not from Cordova

The vice mayor said she will get in touch with the city’s social welfare office to see what assistance could be given to the family.

In Cordova town, fisherman Arnold Quijano was headed out to sea at 7 a.m when he found the unidentified woman floating in a fish sanctuary.

The woman was fair-skinned, had short hair and was clad in a black T-shirt and short pants.

He brought the remains to the shorelines of sitio Camonilas in barangay Poblacion and told somebody to call the police.

Residents said the woman wasn’t from Cordova and may have been carried by the strong current to their shores.

SPO4 Cesar Lobiano said there was no indication of foul play found in the remains.

The woman’s cadaver was brought to the St. Francis Funeral homes. Correspondents Rhea Ruth V. Rosell, Carmel Loise Matus and Norman V. Mendoza