MASANTOL, Pampanga – Over 100 members of a Christian group, including children, were rushed to various hospitals in this province after they exhibited symptoms of food poisoning in remote Sitio San Francisco in Barangay San Isidro Matua in this town.
Vice Mayor Bajun Lacap said doctors from a local hospital believed they were poisoned after eating spaghetti served during a thanksgiving party held in the house of a certain Nida Roque on Sunday evening. Her son Marlon was to be ordained pastor of their church.
The municipal council, he said, declared a state of calamity in the barangay to make available some funds to assist the victims in their hospitalization expenses.
“Our estimate is that there were more than 100 poisoning victims, including several children,” he said.
Gerard Calara, councilor of San Isidro Matua, said Mrs. Roque herself was also hospitalized while her grandson, the son of Marlon, was rushed to the Jose Lingad Memorial Hospital after reportedly convulsing. – Ding Cervantes