Boy jumps from roof of 5-story building

MANILA, Philippines - An 11-year-old boy, a scavenger, jumped from the rooftop of a five-story building in Taguig City after a fight with his siblings over their share of food for breakfast yesterday.

He was rushed to the Philippine Army Hospital in Fort Bonifacio, where he was declared stable, based on his vital signs. The right side of his face swelled and he complained of pain in his right leg.

Doctors said he responded to them but could hardly open his eyes.

The boy was later rushed to East Medical Center in Quezon City because he needed to be examined by a specialist and undergo a CT scan to determine the extent of his head injuries.

“He was neither vomiting nor complaining of dizziness during his six-hour confinement. But he told us that he feels sleepy,” said attending physician Mae Fely Comendador.

According to Comendador, the hospital staff initially thought the boy was a victim of a vehicular accident because the tricycle driver who rushed him to the emergency room immediately left.

He only started to answer questions when Comendador, a friend of the boy, called out his name. “We were not sure what exactly happened to him. So, I asked him if he really jumped off and he said ‘yes,’” the doctor told The STAR.

His mother told policemen that her son was quarreling with his two older sisters when he threatened to kill himself. Senior Superintendent Tomas Apolinario Jr. told The STAR that the boy would usually threaten to kill himself whenever he was disgruntled.

The mother tried to pacify her son by giving him money and then the boy left their house in Sitio Pinaglabanan, Western Bicutan. But instead of buying food, he went to the nearby PNG building along Bayani Road and went to the rooftop.

Robinson Sanchez, a bank security guard at the building, told radio station dzBB that the boy cried before jumping. He said he and other onlookers tried but failed to convince the boy not to jump.

“It was so fast. Everything happened in less than a minute,” Sanchez said.

In a separate radio interview, witness Richard Molina said “nobody” bothered to help “even if the boy was visibly alive after the fall.” Molina said he even had to ask a tricycle driver to bring the boy to a nearby hospital.

Comendador, whose son is the injured boy’s playmate, said the victim “was normal” but developed mental problems when he came out of a coma because of an infection two years ago.