Cabanlas sounds alarm bells over string of Oro suicide cases

By JOEY NACALABAN
Correspondent

A COUNCILOR on Monday sounded alarm bells over the string of suicide cases here.

Councilor Edgar Cabanlas brought his concern to the city council during its regular session this week as he cited reports that the number of suicide cases has risen to 19.

But the following day, the suicide cases rose to 21 with 40-year-old Gino Salvador hanging himself in his house at around 5 pm Tuesday in Zone 5, Naga in Barangay Puerto.

Authorities said Salvador tied one end of an electrical wire to the ceiling and the other end around his neck.

Salvador’s son found him hanging near their house’s door.

The suicide’s friend Michael Ediso said Salvador was a former supervisor of a shop called Metal Star, and was forced to stop working because he became sickly.

Salvador, he said, became depressed as he suffered complications due to diabetes.

He was the third person to end his own life in the same neighborhood.

Salvador had taught martial arts in a school here, a gym enthusiast, and had been into track and field.

Councilor Cabanlas said he was disturbed over the string of suicides in the city.

“More and more are thinking of committing suicide. We expect another one because that is becoming a routine… How can we prevent it?” a press release from the city council quoted Cabanlas as telling fellow local legislators.

He said city hall should think of a way to help bring the number of suicides down, first by strengthening the collaborative efforts of the city council’s health and social services committees.

Cabanlas also called for barangay fora aimed at increasing awareness and provide support groups to families that lost members to suicide “so that those who will listen will learn.”

To do this effectively, he urged the city council committees, including the finance committee, to come up with a clear program.

“We should be serious about [doing something about this problem],” Cabanlas said.

He also proposed the declaration of a suicide prevention month in the city to increase public awareness. He suggested September.

Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin Uy suggested that Cabanlas’s proposals be incorporated in a proposed mental health code for the city.

Meanwhile, Jaymee Leonen, a psychologist, said the World Health Organization (WHO) considers depression as the most disabling disease worldwide.

Leonen said many suicides take place because of depression. Other factors are family problems, nervous breakdowns and failed relationships.

“Authorities have acknowledged that people sometimes attempt suicide not necessarily because they want to die. Instead, they just don’t know how and where to get help,” she said.

Leonen said many young people are vulnerable because of the “sense of hopelessness.”