Raps set vs lambanog store owner

LAGUNA, Philippines — Police are set to file criminal charges against the owner of a lambanog (coconut wine) store, in connection with the deaths of 11 persons and around 300 others hospitalized last Thursday.

Rizal police chief Capt. Lindley Tibuc yesterday said probers of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 4A are tasked to handle the probe as well as to file charges.

He said the local police is preparing all supporting documents, including testimonies and statements, to assist the victims in filing the complaint.

“We are also awaiting the results of the FDA tests of samples of Rey coconut wine,” Tibuc said, referring to the Food and Drug Administration.

Charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and negligence are being readied against the owner of Rey Lambanog store, according to the police chief.

Reports said Rey Lambanog store was operated by Nicanor Buela delos Reyes.

Laguna police director Col. Eleazar Matta said Laguna Gov. Ramil Hernandez ordered the temporary ban on the distribution and sale of coconut wine in the province.

Calabarzon police director Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. ordered police units to compel liquor store owners to temporarily stop the sale of lambanog, which covers the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Batangas and Quezon.

Matta said some of the victims hospitalized since last Thursday have been discharged from hospital after being treated.

Matta told The STAR that a representative from the lambanog store has surfaced at the station and hospitals to offer assistance and make promises to cooperate in the investigation as well as to shoulder the hospital expenses.

Death

A 37-year-old man from Rizal, Laguna who drank lambanog died yesterday at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) due to methanol poisoning.

Jenard Clerigo succumbed to “neurologic complications” at 4:30 a.m. yesterday, according to PGH spokesman Jonas del Rosario.

At present, five victims of lambanog poisoning are confined at the PGH while 30 others have already been sent home.

 3 victims escape

Meanwhile, three victims of lambanog poisoning at the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) have escaped while 11 others have insisted on going home to spend Christmas with their families, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday.

At a press conference in the EAMC, Duque noted that three patients have “absconded,” thus, depriving themselves of treatment from what is suspected to be methanol poisoning.

Duque added that 11 other patients have “insisted that they be discharged against medical advice so they were (told) to watch out for symptoms” and see a doctor the moment any symptom comes out.

“Maybe because it’s Christmas, they want to be with their families and they weren’t feeling that bad. So they thought they are OK,” he maintained.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not come out with the results of the laboratory analysis conducted on the samples of lambanog collected to establish the cause of the poisoning.

The patients have refused admission because they found the hospital too far from their home, according to EAMC toxicologist John Paul Ner.

Besides, a majority of them were not accompanied by relatives when they were brought to the hospital. They also wanted to be admitted to a hospital near their respective residences.

A majority of patients came from Rizal, Laguna. 

Duque said generally, symptoms may appear about three to five days from the last day a contaminated lambanog was consumed.

“But again, I think that’s dose-dependent. It depends on the load of the methanol in the blood that will also determine the acuteness of the symptoms or if the dose is not as toxic, then the symptoms may either be inapparent to apparent,” he added.

As of Dec. 23, a total of 66 patients have already been discharged. Three remain confined, one of whom is at the intensive care unit undergoing dialysis with renal failure in the offing.

One of the patients is baker Medel Ocbina, 57, of barangay Puok in Rizal, Laguna who consumed lambanog during their company party last Saturday.

In an interview, Ocbina said he felt nothing wrong until the next day when he felt heat all over his body and he had stomach ache.

“It was like I was under a hot-scorching sun. It was unbearable. I also developed stomach ache so I was brought to a hospital,” he added. – With Sheila Crisostomo