2 cancer patients commit suicide in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Two people suffering from cancer both ended their agonies yesterday by committing suicide, bringing the number of people who died of self-inflicted injury to eight in two weeks.

Angel Saballa, 45, hanged himself inside his bedroom at sitio Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe. His family believes that his lingering illness prompted him to end his life.

Saballa is said to have been diagnosed with stage 3B colorectal cancer. According to www.cancer.org, Colorectal cancer starts in either the colon or the rectum. It is the third most common cancer, next to lung cancer and breast cancer, the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the country today.

Jason Saballa, 22, a relative of the victim, discovered the victim hanging lifeless at 7:00 a.m. yesterday with a 14-inch long nylon rope tied around his neck through the wooden beam of his room.

In Barangay Poblacion, Ginatilan, a 38-year-old woman who was also diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer likewise killed herself by hanging.

Vilma Gutana was found by her husband, Chito, at 10:00 a.m. yesterday hanging at the ceiling of a shanty at the back of their house. Gutana is said to have been depressed not only because of her illness but because she has been isolated from her family due to the foul odor coming from her breast.

The autopsy result showed Gutana died of asphyxia, a condition of severe lack of supply of oxygen to the brain arising from being unable to breathe normally, secondary to strangulation.

Police Officer 1 Michael Sevilla said Gutana was isolated due to the foul odor coming from her breast. The shanty where she was found dead served as her private room where she eats, sleeps and rest.

“Wala napud siya kaayo paduoli tungod sa baho,” Sevilla said.

Police Officer 3 Leroy Baguio of the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office said there are already more than 10 cases of suicide in the city since May 1. Most of them died by hanging.

Ditas Orozco, head of the psychology department at Saint Theresa’s College, earlier said that suicide is commonly caused by depression. It is a result of feelings of desperation and hopelessness.

“People who commit suicide have big problems. They think that the only way to solve their problems is by ending their lives,” she said.

But sometimes weather plays a role in human behavior, especially during hot season, wherein people tend to be highly irritable, she said. — (FREEMAN)