Man dies of chemical poisoning in Valenzuela

A male septuagenarian died of suspected chemical poisoning after he inhaled fumes from a nearby plastics factory in Valenzuela yesterday, police said.

Victim Bienvenido Victor, 72, of 24 Road 2 Buenaventura Street, Barangay Dalandanan died at the Valenzuela General Hospital where he was taken.

Inspector Salvador dela Cruz, Station Investigation Bureau (SIB) chief, said the suspect was reported dead at around 12:45 p.m. yesterday.

The victim’s son, Reynaldo, 27, single, a government employee, said he took his father to the hospital after the latter complained of suffocating fumes allegedly coming out of the smokestacks of Duksan Plastic Inc. factory.

The factory is reportedly owned by a Eob Kyo Lee, allegedly a Korean, at 2 Buenaventura Street in Barangay Kapitbahayan.

It was gathered that the factory has been ordered closed by the city government following complaints from residents. Despite the complaints, the factory still operates with impunity unmindful of the hazards to health caused by apparent lack of safe anti-pollution devices, the police said.

Meanwhile, an employee of a funeral parlor in Pasay City reportedly ran off with P8,000 intended for the cremation of a Japanese national.

Police identified the suspect as Randy Ranillo, a utility personnel at Veronica Funeral Homes located at A. Arnaiz Street, Pasay.

In his complaint, branch manager Jeffrey Libunao said he gave the suspect the money last Wednesday at around 7:30 a.m. The money was intended as payment for the cremation permit and expenses of one Ishimaru Mikio. Ranillo, however, failed to return.

The Japanese Embassy, Libunao said, hired the services of the funeral parlor to arrange for Mikio’s cremation.

Investigation showed that the suspect has been working at the funeral parlor for the past three years.

It appeared that Ranillo could have planned on taking money because his bio-data was reported missing from the funeral parlor’s files, virtually leaving the complainant and the police with no information about his identity, said case investigator Senior Police Officer 1 Danny Ocampo. – Nikko Dizon and Jerry Botial