Woman's body found floating off a beach

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — A half-naked body of a woman was found floating off the shores of Escaño  Beach in Barangay Piapi of this city yesterday morning.

Witnesses later identified the woman as Emily Adanza, about 35 to 40 years old and a resident of the barangay in the city.

"We first thought that it was only garbage, but then we found out that it was a woman's dead body," said Lino Garualdo, a fisherman who lives in the area who first discovered the body along with his fellow fishermen. Garualdo's group then alerted members of Bantay-Dagat who pulled Adanza's body back to shore.

Initial investigation by the City Police showed that Adanza allegedly experienced an epilepsy attack while swimming in the area, and this could have drowned her.

The police said they found bubbles on her nose and mouth, and two signs of healed slash wounds on her left hand. The wounds, according to Adanza's aunt who requested for anonymity, were a result of Adanza's suicide attempt last month.

Boyet Aledia, an employee at the local Bureau of Customs and a close friend of the victim, said the incident may have been caused by her lack of maintenance medicines. "She used to take medicines in order to control her epilepsy, but lately she wasn't able to buy them," he told The Freeman, adding that she "didn't even have money to buy food."

Adanza's body is now in a local funeral parlor awaiting for her husband, identified as Leoncio Adanza, to claim it.  (FREEMAN)