Teener drowns in fishpond date

MANILA, Philippines – The young lovers’ tryst at a fishpond in Malabon City Tuesday afternoon turned tragic when the banca they were riding capsized in the murky water drowning the teener.

Superintendent Reynaldo Orante, Malabon City police acting chief, identified the victim as 17-year-old Leonel Roda, resident of Barangay Baritan in Malabon City.

Rescue teams from the Coast Guard and the local police led by Orante fished out the teener’s body from a fishpond on Sitio Lambingan, Barangay Catmon at around 9 a.m. yesterday.

Witnesses said that the victim and his 17-year-old girlfriend agreed to meet at a fishpond in Sitio Lambingan at around 5 p.m. Tuesday to celebrate their anniversary as lovers.

While the teener was leisurely paddling their old banca at the middle of the fishpond, the wooden boat’s underside cracked. The boat rolled due to the sudden surge of water throwing off the teener and his girlfriend to the murky water, Orante said.

Roda was able to save his girlfriend by swimming to the bank of the fishpond and pushed her up. But after that, the teener went down the muddy water and never resurfaced.

Orante said that Roda was entangled with a fishnet at the bottom of the fishpond when found by the police and Coast Guard rescue team. – With Perseus Echeminada