Widow sets self on fire

MALASIQUI, Pangasinan — Unable to bear the difficulties of life, a 44-year-old widow ended her miseries by pouring gasoline on her body and set herself aflame, resulting in her death.

Dead was Gloria Fernandez de Vera, of Asin East this town. The incident happened last week at 2 p.m. inside her nipa hut.

In an interview with dzRH-Dagupan, the victim’s elder sister, Adoracion Norberte, whose house is beside her house, said that she noticed smoke coming out from the victim’s house. Together with the other neighbors’ help, they tried to put out the fire gutting the house as well as the victim’s body.

It took them three hours to convince the victim to be rushed to the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City because she refused to be saved.

Fernandez suffered third degree burns on almost 85 percent of her body. She died two days after.

Fernandez used to work as a helper in a canteen in Calasiao town but stopped working in January. She has been saying she wants to die because she could not bear the hardships of life. Adoracion, however, kept on advising her not to give up and to always seek God’s help through prayers.

Fernandez left four kids, all in their teenaged years. — Eva de Leon