Fear of being arrested anew: Man jumps off Pasig River

MANILA, Philippines - A 34-year-old peanut vendor drowned after jumping off into the Pasig River Tuesday night for fear of being arrested for vagrancy, police said. The body of Dennis de la Vega surfaced yesterday morning under the Jones bridge after Philippine Coast Guard divers failed to retrieve his body during an all-night search into the murky water.

According to the victim’s live-in partner Remedios Inocencio, 31, they were sleeping on a street gutter along Muelle del Banco in Sta. Cruz, Manila Tuesday night when they were roused by at least 10 members of a barangay patrol. She said they were being rounded up for vagrancy.

As De la Vega was being taken into a waiting barangay vehicle, he suddenly jumped into the river and tried to swim ashore into the other side of the riverbank. However, in the middle of his swim the victim gasped for breath and called for assistance.

Inocencio said instead of saving her partner the tanods only laughed and even made fun of the struggling victim. “O ayan, tatalon talon ka sa ilog hindi ka pala marunong lumangoy (You see, you jumped into the river even though you don’t know how to swim),” Inocencio quoted the men as saying.

The tanods left when the victim failed to surface, according to Inocencio. She then sought assistance from the Coast Guard whose divers searched for the victim the whole night, but to no avail.

Inocencio, together with the Coast Guard team, searched for the same area yesterday morning until they received information that a man’s body was fished out under the Jones bridge which turned out to be her partner.

Inocencio identified De la Vega through tattoos on his back.

Inocencio said the victim had just been released from jail for vagrancy two hours ago before his death. The victim feared of being jailed again, according to Inocencio.

Officer-on-case PO3 Jay Santos said he will summon the barangay tanods to explain why they failed to save the drowning victim. – Nestor Etolle