Lovelorn man scales billboard in QC

MANILA, Philippines - A man scaled a billboard along EDSA in Quezon City and threatened to jump after his girlfriend reportedly refused to elope with him yesterday.

Policemen took at least three hours before they convinced Lucien Jun Gocotano, 22, to go down the 40-foot structure, said Superintendent Pedro Sanchez, commander of the Quezon City Police District Station 2.

Sanchez said they managed to locate Gocotano’s cousin, Franklin, who talked to him atop the billboard at the corner of EDSA and Congressional Avenue. 

Gocotano climbed the structure at around 9 a.m. and eventually went down at noon, police said.

He traveled from Bacolod and arrived in Quezon City yesterday morning to look for a job, according to Sanchez.

But before leaving his hometown, Gocotano asked his girlfriend to live in with him in the metropolis.

His girlfriend reportedly declined because she wanted to continue her studies. 

This apparently broke his heart, prompting him to scale the billboard.

In Makati City, a man believed to be mentally ill climbed a billboard at the corner of EDSA and Chino Roces Extension at 4:21 p.m.

Rescuers from the Makati fire and rescue unit were dispatched to the scene to convince him to go down.

The man went down the billboard after more than an hour. – With Mike Frialde