8-month-old fetus found by the road

CEBU, Philippines - An eight-month-old fetus was found by a pedicab driver Tuesday afternoon on the roadside in Sitio Kabaran, Barangay Sapangdaku, Cebu City.

Dario Ybanita, 50, told the police he was answering the call of nature when he spotted the fetus on the ground.

Senior Police Officer 2 Ruth Violango, investigator at the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office, said the fetus did not have any covering material when Ybanita found it. The umbilical cord was still connected to it, she added.

Ybanita said he then sought help from the passing motorists after the discovery.

Barangay tanods led by Edgardo Labella Sr. and Senior Police Officer 1 Noel Bautista of Guadalupe Police Station subsequently responded to the area and brought the fetus to Saint Francis Funeral Homes.

The police believed that the fetus was left on the roadside just hours earlier before it was discovered.

“Kung naay fetus dinha, di gyud na magdugay kay naa may iro. Usually, tangagon man na sila sa mga iro so ibutang ta nga that day gyud to siya (gibilin) didto,” Violango said.

Violango said they are still coordinating with Barangay Sapangdaku officials to determine if someone from the place happened to witness the incident.

She suspected that the person who left the fetus might not have been a resident of the barangay.  — Reinhard Julius O. Buhia, USJ-R Intern (FREEMAN)