Two men die in well

CEBU, Philippines - The owner of a piggery in barangay Capitol Site, this city only wanted to find a solution to the scarcity of water in their area, but never expected that such will end in the death of two friends, who accidentally drowned while cleaning an old well.

Wendel Obregon, 28, and Marlon Dilao, 32 were hired by Felimon Bruce yesterday to clean an old well located inside the latter’s piggery in sitio Riverside Lower Ponce, barangay Capitol Site.

The well has been unused for two years and Bruce decided to have it cleaned so it can be reused as a source of water for his hogs.

Capitol Site as well as other barangays has reportedly been experiencing problems in water supply for the past few months due to El Niño.

Senior Police Officer 4 and investigator Alex Dacua of the Cebu City Police Homicide Section said that Obregon and Dilao were already dead when volunteers of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) were able to pull them out of the 20-feet deep well.

Dacua said that according to Bruce, Obregon attempted to go down first, but accidentally slipped and fell.

Dilao tried to save his friend, however, his strength was not enough to pull Obregon up.

“Sa tantong pangusog ni Dilao, hasta siya naapil og kahagbong sa ilawom,” Dacua said. 

The two might have drowned because the well is filled with water and mud.

Another possible cause of the victims’ death being looked into is suffocation when the two fell.

“Ang among initial nga pagtan-aw nalumos ni sila pero nahibulong k okay wala man mobutod ang tiyan, and medico legal na lang unya maoy mo-determine kun nalumos ba sila sa tubig o nahutdan sila og hangin,” Dacua said.

Bruce promised to provide assistance to the families of the victims.

Phearly Obregon, Wendel’s sister, said that Bruce visited their house early yesterday morning to hire the victims to clean the well for P2,000.

Danilo Obregon, Wendel’s father also said that they are really experiencing water problems these past few months.

“Tungod man gud ning wala’y tubig, namatyan hinuon ta,” Danilo lamented.  – Jessica Ann R. Pareja and Lesley Caminade of Banat News/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)