Poverty, drugs drive 2 Caloocan men to suicide

MANILA, Philippines - Extreme poverty, illegal drug use, and jealousy prompted two men to commit suicide in Caloocan City only hours apart.

Marcial Mallo, 65, jumped off a footbridge in front of Manila Central University (MCU) Hospital yesterday morning. Mallo’s children believe he killed himself to end his suffering from the lack of money needed for medicine to cure his tuberculosis and heart enlargement.

“He smiled seconds before he ended his life,” said Joy Mallo, the sexagenarian’s daughter-in-law.

Joy said Mallo woke up about 5:30 a.m. and asked his favorite grandson John Paul Naria, 12, to accompany him “to buy medicine.”

“We were all dumbfounded by his action because we all know he did not have any money. Janjan, who was his favorite, decided to just go with him,” Joy said.

When the two reached the topmost step of the footbridge, Mallo “suddenly asked” John Paul to “go down and buy a newspaper.”

A surprised John Paul hesitated to leave his grandfather, according to Joy, but an angry Mallo warned him: “I will hit you if you don’t obey my orders.”

Right after John Paul got off the footbridge, he heard a loud thump on the road. When he turned, he saw his grandfather lying on the pavement. He died in the MCU Hospital two hours later.

According to Joy, Mallo wanted his three jobless children and in-laws to stop buying medicine, which costs P95 daily.

“We told them it’s okay but he felt sad about it, especially after we spent the money intended for our electricity bill for tatay’s medicine. As a result, our electricity was cut,” she said.

Nothing to eat

In Bagong Barrio, less than 24 hours before Mallo’s death, alleged “drug addict” and “wife beater” Mark Anthony Delemos hanged himself at about 9 p.m. Sunday.

“Ang hirap pala ng walang makain (It’s hard when there is nothing to eat),” Delemos allegedly said in his suicide note, according to his brother-in-law Dexter Hizon.

Delemos, who had been jobless for four years, was reportedly jealous of his wife’s boss. He and Jennilyn Hizon frequently fought over suspicions that his wife was having an affair.

“He was always angry because Jennilyn had to go home late for working overtime. He accused her of having an affair when the woman was only working hard to support her two children,” said their neighbor, Lorena Tena.

A starved Delemos had not slept for a week when he killed himself. Hours before his suicide, Delemos drank four bottles of beer, “ate” shabu, and sent his oldest son Jenmark out of their shanty.

“He told Jenmark that he loved him and Jennilyn very much,” said Dexter. When Jennilyn got home, she shrieked after seeing Delemos’s body hanging from their low ceiling, Dexter said.