2 commit suicide by drinking silver polish

Two Tondo, Manila residents, unrelated and living far from each other, committed suicide hours apart by drinking silver cleaning solution.

The reason for ending their lives, according to their relatives, was extreme depression.

The first suicide was identified as pedicab driver Joven Laurente, 30, single, of Masinop street. He was found unconscious inside the bathroom, his mouth frothing, at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. An empty bottle of silver cleaning solution was recovered near his body. He was rushed to the Mary Johnston Hospital but died while being treated.

According to his half-brother, Laurente was cursing everbody shortly before his body was found. “I am already tired of living,” his brother quoted the victim as saying while intoxicated. He told police he did not mind the words of the victim, but started to worry when his brother stayed in the bathroom for an inordinate period of time.

Thirteen hours later, in another part of Tondo, Julita Cepeda, 43, was found lifeless in her bed at the ground floor of her house on Honorio Lopez street.

A bottle of silver cleaning solution was found beside her body. SPO2 Steve Casimiro noted scalding on the mouth of the victim, which indicated that she drank the solution.

A text message she sent to one “Kuya Joe” stated that “she prefers to die than live.”

Casimiro said silver cleaning solution, which can be bought cheaply in stores, seems to be the choice of suicides in Tondo.

Police said the Philippine General Hospital has an antidote for the poison. They mentioned the case of two children who accidentally drank the solution but survived after taking the antidote.