3 charged for leaving PWD, 76, under bridge

MANILA, Philippines — A visibly irate Manila Mayor Isko Moreno yesterday ordered the filing of charges against three persons for abandoning a 76-year-old person with disability (PWD) under MacArthur Bridge in Sta. Cruz.

Moreno scolded Ephraim Yap, 51, nephew of PWD Fulgencia Tan; Emerita Decillo, 60; and tricycle driver Rogelio Espino, 53, during a press briefing in his office.

“Tatanda din kayo (You will also grow old)! This is not the way we treat our elders. This is all about money. You (Yap) want to get rid of your aunt to free you from your encumbrance, while you (Decillo) just wanted to get something from it and don’t care whatever happens to the old woman,” Moreno said.

Maj. Rosalino Ibay Jr., who heads the Manila Police District’s Special Mayor’s Reaction Team, said the suspects were charged with violating Article 275 of the Revised Penal Code or abandonment of persons in danger.

A netizen posted on Facebook a video of Tan being dumped from Espino’s tricycle on Tuesday.

After learning of the incident, city social welfare and development chief Re Fugoso and her team proceeded to the area and rescued Tan.

Ibay sent a team to arrest the suspects after Espino was identified as the tricycle driver.

Espino was accosted along Arlegui street in Quiapo at around 4:25 p.m. on Wednesday while Decillo was arrested near her house on Benita street in Gagalangin, Tondo about an hour later.

Decillo told police Yap paid her P1,500 to bring his aunt to the Missionaries of Charity in Tondo “but she was not accepted because the institution was under lockdown.”

Decillo – who was reportedly known to bring scavengers to social welfare facilities – said she decided to dump Tan under MacArthur Bridge to fulfill her part of the bargain.

Yap, who was arrested yesterday morning, said he secured a certification from his barangay that he “was abandoning his aunt and decided to look for an institution that will take care of her because he had no means to feed her.”

Tan, whose husband died recently, was confined for three weeks at the Metropolitan Medical Center and the responsibility of taking care of her was passed to Yap, police said.

Moreno said if they were really bent on abandoning the old woman they could have approached the local government or the police “because we will not drive them away.”

“Decillo was only after the money and did not care what happens to the old woman. We do not do that to animals, much less on an elderly person. Our culture teaches us to love our elders,” he said.