3 boys die in filthy creek

Three boys drowned while swimming in a garbage-choked neighborhood creek during a heavy downpour Friday afternoon in Caloocan City.

City police chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele identified the victims as grade schooler Benedict Torneros, 10, Ysmael Ponseca, 13, out-of-school youth, both of Don Antonio Street and Danny Boy Lopez Jr., 14, a first year high school student and resident of 212 Interior 5 Doña Rita Street, all of Barangay 19, Zone 2, District 2 in Caloocan City.

Sub-station 2 investigation chief Romeo Orte said the boys, who were neighbors, were playing ball at the height of a heavy downpour Friday afternoon at around 4 p.m. near the Don Benito Creek when they decided to take a dip in the murky waters.

Witnesses told probers the boys were having a great time swimming several laps across the six-meter wide canal when tragedy struck.

Ponseca reportedly tried to swim after the ball they were playing with which was carried away by the current. Torneros and Lopez tried to go after Ponseca whom they saw floundering in the middle of the creek, Ponseca soon disappeared in the water.

The two raced to save him but apparently got entangled in floating garbage under a culvert where they apparently were carried by the strong current. All three failed to come up again.

At around 4:45 p.m., relatives and concerned neighbors immediately called up rescuers including members of the city police, the Caloocan City Hall’s Department of Public Safety and Traffic Management (DPSTM), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the military, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and private volunteer rescue teams.

Coast Guard divers, in their diving suits went into the dark, stinking waters at around 6 p.m. Friday and recovered the bodies of Ponseca and Torneros at around 10:45 that same night. Lopez’s body was retrieved some 300 meters away from where the three disappeared, only at around 10 yesterday morning.

The bodies of the three victims were moved to the Funeraria Ambassador in Caloocan City for autopsy.

Meanwhile, police are after a robber who shot and critically wounded a store owner-couple before divesting their variety store of undetermined cash and goods yesterday morning in Caloocan City.

Recovering from bullet wounds in the body were husband and wife Diego Torres, 42; and Gemma, 41, owners of the Crisabel Store in Bagong Silang which the robber held up at around 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

Superintendent Benedicto Gorospe, police Sub-station 3 chief, said his men are tracking down the suspect whom they have identified through descriptions supplied by the victims.

Initial investigation showed that the victims had just opened the store when the holdup man came from nowhere and announced the stick-up.

Police said the male victim tried to fight back, prompting the robber to shoot him. The suspect then turned on the female victim and also shot her.

As the victims fell blooded to the ground, the holdup man started divesting the store of cash and goods before fleeing on foot.