Men account for 81% of suicide cases in WV

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE

For the first quarter of 2022, the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) recorded a total of 80 deaths caused by suicide.

25 cases or 31 percent of these incidents happened in Iloilo province.

Negros Occidental has the second most number of cases with 17; Antique with 11; Iloilo City and Aklan with seven each; Bacolod City with 6; Capiz with 4; and Guimaras with 7.

Earlier, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) on Monday said that it is alarmed by the series of suicide incidents recently.

“We initially thought that the increases in suicide incidents in 2020 and 2021 have something to do with the restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Senior Master Sergeant Francisco Lindero, Jr., IPPO spokesperson, said.

Yet, with everything going back to almost normal this year, the cases did not ebb.

In 2019, IPPO recorded 82 suicide cases. It rose to 91 in 2020 and 98 in 2021.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Arnel Solis, PRO-6 spokesperson, said that more than 80 percent of the victims are males.

Of the 80 incidents, 65 are males while 15 are females.

Thirty-one victims are those with ages ranging from 17 to 30 years old.

On the other hand, 22 have ages from 45 years old and above; twenty are from 31 to 45 years old; and seven from 3 to 16 years old.

The Department of Health has constantly reminded those who have problems or those who know individuals who are at risk of committing suicides that they could seek mental health crisis intervention:

The suicide prevention hotline of the Center for Health Development – Western Visayas:

1-800-10-333-8336

09985324047

09255469919

WVSUMC – 3202431 loc. 162 or 209

3292360

WVMC – 3211797 loc. 186

5037708

PMHU – 5298109