Septuagenarian drowns to death

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A 72-year-old man died in a drowning incident late morning of Dec 12, 2021 in Dumangas, Iloilo.

The victim, Jonas Balarito, a resident of Barangay Baclayan Ilaya, New Lucena, Iloilo, was on a family excursion on the coast of Sitio Bo-ol, Barangay Talusan, Dumangas when he drowned.

Staff Sergeant Efren Gonzaga, Jr., Dumangas police investigator, said the family had just celebrated the debut of Balarito’s granddaughter on Saturday.

With some food left from the party, the family decided to extend the celebration to the beach resort.

Before leaving home around 9 a.m., relatives claimed that Balarito already consumed some liquor. He again drank while on the beach.

According to reports, the victim was drunk when he decided to take a dip in the sea.

Witnesses theorized that the incident happened around 10:45 a.m.

After a while, they began looking for him until his body surfaced 30 minutes later.

The area where his body was recovered was just around a meter deep.

Rescuers tried to revive him after he was fished out of the water.

He was subsequently taken to Ramon Duremdes Memorial District Hospital in Dumangas town where he was declared dead on arrival.