Girl, 16, drowns in Budlaan

CEBU, Philippines - What was supposed to be a good time for a group of friends turned into a tragedy when one of them, a 16-year-old girl, allegedly drowned while swimming near Kabang Falls in the mountain barangay of Budlaan, Cebu City.

Victim Joy Sayre, a resident of Wireless, Mandaue City, was found already dead some one kilometer away from where she was allegedly swept by current.

According to Police Officer 3 Winston Ybañez of the Homicide Section of Cebu City Police Office, the victim and six of her friends, all legally aged, together with their tour guide Christopher Nagumbay went to Budlaan for mountain trekking.

They reached their destination at 1 p.m. where they had their lunch.

Ybañez said it was around 3 to 4 p.m. when the victims and her friends went swimming below the falls.

However, a strong current brought about by the heavy rain allegedly swept the group away.

“They held hands, all of them, but the minor got away,” the police officer said.

It was around 5 p.m., Ybañez said, when the tour guide and Sayre’s friends found her unconscious about one kilometer away from where they were swimming.

Barangay tanods of Budlaan also helped in the search.

Operatives of the Homicide Section arrived in the area at around 7 p.m. after receiving report about the incident.

Tomorrow, Ybañez said, they will meet the victim’s friends who were with her during the incident to get their statement.

He said they were not able to get proper details from the victim’s companions since they were still in a state of shock and the others just kept on crying.

A month ago, in the neighboring Barangay Bonbon, two children also drowned in a 14-feet deep pond.

The victims were identified as Walter Perez, 7, and his younger sister, Jaysan, 5.

 The children were found hours after their mother, Maria Dan Helyn Perez, 27, had noticed that they went missing. Perez allegedly brought them with her to the mountain to harvest copra.

The kids allegedly asked permission from their mother to go somewhere to defecate, but did not return an hour after, prompting the mother to search for them and later found them dead. (FREEMAN)