CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has appealed to those who would want to commit suicide to please not to do it at the two bridges linking the islands of Cebu and Mactan.
Garcia is fed up by the recent spate of suicide attempts that have caused major traffic problems on the two bridges and the surrounding areas.
Garcia said that the Mactan Cebu Bridge Management Board decided to install 45 close-circuit television cameras on the two bridges instead of deploying security guards.
“In so far as desperate individuals with broken hearts are concerned, may be they can go elsewhere, palihug lang,” Garcia said in a press conference yesterday.
Garcia said that it seems these individuals chose the bridges to get good media exposure.
The MCBMB is continuously improving the system of protecting the bridges from ships that may ram the piers, from those who may wish to vandalize, and those who wish to make the bridge as “stage for their lost causes”, said the governor.
Two weeks ago a woman leaped off the Mactan-Mandaue bridge but survived. On the same day a man also climbed the 40-foot tower of the nearby Marcelo Fernan Bridge waiting for a vessel to pass for him to hitch a ride to Mindanao.
The man identified as Jecy Mollena, 20, went down three days later. He was also charged with alarm and scandal.
The said incident prompted Garcia to scold the person tasked to monitor the surveillance cameras for sleeping on his job.
Garcia scolded Leo Jim Bacus after he explained he was not able to see the person who climbed the tower of the bridge because he was in the comfort room when the man clibed up.
“Because of that reminder, they are now mindful. This is really monitoring, this is not just recording,” Garcia said when the person in charge to monitor the camera alerted the authorities who responded immediately the following incidents.
Last Monday, a certain Joel Villahermosa, tried to leap off the first Mandaue-Mactan Bridge however he was prevented by responding policemen after a two-hour negotiation, but he was arrested and will be charged for alarm and scandal.
Villahermosa, a lifeguard of Agus Hotel, told the police that he wanted to commit suicide because his Korean girlfriend left him after a confrontation with his wife. He decided to end his life by leaping off the bridge.
Authorities filed alarm and scandal charges against Villahermosa yesterday.
The MCBMB had spent P2.5 million a year for five guards in 8-hour shift before it installed CCTV cameras.
“It’s really a matter of doing our job but we are employing the capabilities of modern technology to enhance our own competence and our own capability,” Garcia said.
Five guards cannot be compared to 45 cameras that “do not need to eat, drink and take a bath room break,” Garcia added.— (FREEMAN)