Expired lollipops down 371 Palawan students

At least 371 elementary pupils were rushed to the hospital in Bataraza, Palawan yesterday after eating expired lollipops, which a female vendor had found in a garbage bin and sold to them.

Chief Superintendent Louie Palmera, Mimaropa police director, said the vendor is now in police custody as probers try to determine the source of the lollipops with the brand Bone Light and made in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The lollipop label showed that the candy already expired on Dec. 7 last year, investigation showed.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, Palmera said at least 50 pupils remained under observation in the hospital.

“The other victims were sent home by their attending doctors after they were diagnosed to be out of danger,” he said.

Senior Superintendent Nilo Anzo, officer-in-charge of the Palawan police, said the victims were all students of the Rio Tuba Nickel Elementary School and its annex in Barangay Rio Tuba, Bataraza town.

The students complained of dizziness, vomiting and stomach ache after consuming the lollipops.

Local policemen headed by Inspector Romulo Flores assisted school officials in rushing the victims to the hospital.

Anzo said the vendor gave herself up, and “is now cooperating in our effort to account for the other lollipops which are left unaccounted for.”