By Ronron
March 15, 2005
Cebu - A 56-year-old Japanese national was found dead Sunday afternoon in Mandaue City, this province.
Mandaue City Police Station V Chief Alberto Abing said Hiroyoshi Saguchi, a resident of Toyoda-cho, Iwatagun-ken, Japan, died of natural cause as relayed to him by Scene of the Crime Operatives.
Saguchi was reportedly discovered lifeless by the Filipina live-in partner of his Japanese bestfriend, Fujio Sasaki, at the latter's apartelle in Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City at around 1pm of March 13.
Abing said Saguchi, who arrived in Cebu last March 10 to visit Sasaki, had earlier complained of abdominal pains and loose bowel movement (LBM) after they ate breakfast at the Mactan Shrine in neighboring Lapu-lapu City last Saturday.
Unofficial reports received by Abing from the Region VII Police Crime Laboratory pointed to a pancreatic disorder as the cause of Saguchi's death. An inquiry made by Manila Shimbun yesterday at the Crime Laboratory regarding the same matter proved futile due to the absence of the medico-legal officer.
"Definitely, there is no foul play here because there were no physical injuries found on the victim's body and there were no signs of struggle inside his room," Abing told Manila Shimbun. Saguchi was occupying one of the three rooms in Sasaki's rented unit.
Based on the police blotter, Sasaki's live-in partner, Meldy Bongansiso, 21, tried to wake up Saguchi in the morning of March 13 for breakfast. But after receiving no response, Bongansiso left, thinking that Saguchi just wanted to sleep longer. It was when she tried to wake him up at noontime for lunch that she discovered Saguchi already stiff and breathless.
Police had no exact knowledge yet as to what the group ate for breakfast last Saturday that caused Saguchi's illness.
An attempt also by this reporter to get the story from Bongansiso and Sasaki yesterday was unsuccessful because the couple could not be located.
Abing said Sasaki and Bongansiso are not being investigated on the case.
Saguchi's body was subjected to autopsy and now lies at the Cebu Rolling Hills Funeral Homes. His family is expected to arrive here today (Wednesday) to fetch his remains.
Saguchi arrived in the country via Manila last March 7 and was due for departure on the 28th. He first came to the Philippines in 1997, based on his passport./DMS
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Pesticide poisoned Boholanos, says DOH
By Ronron
March 14, 2005
Cebu – Five days after a massive food poisoning killed 27 grade-schoolers and downed over a hundred others in a remote village in Mabini town, Bohol, health experts have finally ruled Monday that it was pesticide that caused the tragedy.
In a statement released yesterday, the Philippine health department “pointed to severe dehydration secondary to pesticide poisoning,” and not cyanide in cassava, as the main cause of the March 9 incident.
“There were significant findings of pesticide poisoning among the children. This poisoning could have been just an acute event or an acute event on top of a chronic exposure,” the statement read, although it did not specify the kind of pesticide.
Toxicologists from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) went to Bohol last week to gather blood and vomitus samples from confined patients following President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s order on health experts and the police to determine the cause of the mass poisoning.
The experts from the UP Poison Management and Control Center who performed the tests found no evidence of cyanide poisoning among the 49 students tested for cyanide in the blood, the statement added.
Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit explained in the same statement that it was possible the food (deep-fried caramelized cassava) “was prepared in an environment that was highly toxic and contaminated with chemical poisons and bacteria.”
Students of the San Jose Elementary School (SJES) in Barangay San Jose, Mabini admitted of having bought deep-fried caramelized cassava from ambulant vendor Anna Luyong, 68, during their recess in the morning of March 9 before they experienced abdominal pains, vomiting, and loose bowel movement (LBM). Some of them also bought ball-shaped cassava cake from another vendor, Victoria Hibaya, 59, but only a few complained of stomach disorders.
Of the 276 students of SJES, 27 died and 99 others were confined in four different hospitals around the province. Luyong, and five other adults were also brought to the hospitals for treatment after they were able to eat the same food.
Investigators of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Region VII over the weekend were able to get an insecticide from Luyong’s small hut where she prepared the food items she sold. NBI-Bohol Chief Renato Mandawe described the insecticide as powdery in appearance, almost like flour.
“We conducted a research on that kind of insecticide and we learned that it is very toxic. The lethal dose (of the insecticide) to kill an adult is only four grams. How much more if it’s taken in by children? And the symptoms that the victims showed were the same that we found out in our research,” said Mandawe.
Mandawe said they will await the result of the laboratory tests that the NBI Head Office in Manila will conduct on the specimen they have gathered from two of the 27 corpses to be able to confirm if that same insecticide is indeed the culprit.
Similar tests, he added, are also being conducted on samples of cassava that the NBI team have uprooted from Luyong’s backyard to counter-check their negative findings as to the presence of cyanide in the corpses that they have autopsied.
The results are expected to come out today (Tuesday) or Wednesday.
The NBI team conducted an autopsy on two different bodies last March 11 and 12. They collected specimen from the intestines, particularly food items inside the bodies that were not yet completely digested.
Meanwhile, all 27 bodies have already been buried at the San Jose Public Cemetery. And out of the 104 confined patients, only 20 are now remaining at the hospitals./DMS
March 14, 2005
Cebu – Five days after a massive food poisoning killed 27 grade-schoolers and downed over a hundred others in a remote village in Mabini town, Bohol, health experts have finally ruled Monday that it was pesticide that caused the tragedy.
In a statement released yesterday, the Philippine health department “pointed to severe dehydration secondary to pesticide poisoning,” and not cyanide in cassava, as the main cause of the March 9 incident.
“There were significant findings of pesticide poisoning among the children. This poisoning could have been just an acute event or an acute event on top of a chronic exposure,” the statement read, although it did not specify the kind of pesticide.
Toxicologists from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) went to Bohol last week to gather blood and vomitus samples from confined patients following President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s order on health experts and the police to determine the cause of the mass poisoning.
The experts from the UP Poison Management and Control Center who performed the tests found no evidence of cyanide poisoning among the 49 students tested for cyanide in the blood, the statement added.
Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit explained in the same statement that it was possible the food (deep-fried caramelized cassava) “was prepared in an environment that was highly toxic and contaminated with chemical poisons and bacteria.”
Students of the San Jose Elementary School (SJES) in Barangay San Jose, Mabini admitted of having bought deep-fried caramelized cassava from ambulant vendor Anna Luyong, 68, during their recess in the morning of March 9 before they experienced abdominal pains, vomiting, and loose bowel movement (LBM). Some of them also bought ball-shaped cassava cake from another vendor, Victoria Hibaya, 59, but only a few complained of stomach disorders.
Of the 276 students of SJES, 27 died and 99 others were confined in four different hospitals around the province. Luyong, and five other adults were also brought to the hospitals for treatment after they were able to eat the same food.
Investigators of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Region VII over the weekend were able to get an insecticide from Luyong’s small hut where she prepared the food items she sold. NBI-Bohol Chief Renato Mandawe described the insecticide as powdery in appearance, almost like flour.
“We conducted a research on that kind of insecticide and we learned that it is very toxic. The lethal dose (of the insecticide) to kill an adult is only four grams. How much more if it’s taken in by children? And the symptoms that the victims showed were the same that we found out in our research,” said Mandawe.
Mandawe said they will await the result of the laboratory tests that the NBI Head Office in Manila will conduct on the specimen they have gathered from two of the 27 corpses to be able to confirm if that same insecticide is indeed the culprit.
Similar tests, he added, are also being conducted on samples of cassava that the NBI team have uprooted from Luyong’s backyard to counter-check their negative findings as to the presence of cyanide in the corpses that they have autopsied.
The results are expected to come out today (Tuesday) or Wednesday.
The NBI team conducted an autopsy on two different bodies last March 11 and 12. They collected specimen from the intestines, particularly food items inside the bodies that were not yet completely digested.
Meanwhile, all 27 bodies have already been buried at the San Jose Public Cemetery. And out of the 104 confined patients, only 20 are now remaining at the hospitals./DMS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)