By Aaron Recuenco
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has ordered an investigation into the death of a teenage girl who allegedly overdosed on a popular party drug during the Sinulog festival in Cebu City last week.
Supt. Maria Aurora Rayos, spokesperson of the Central Visayas regional police, said the investigation has been launched after it received and later confirmed reports about the party drug-related death.
“It was our Regional Director (Chief Supt. Debold Sinas) who sent investigators to the house of the alleged victims to shed light on that report,” Rayos told the Manila Bulletin in a phone interview.
Based on initial details obtained by the police, the girl was with her friends when the incident happened last weekend.
Her parents asked the police to give them the time to mourn before they talk with the investigators regarding the incident.
“They are very cooperative, but they requested our personnel that they would give the details of everything that they know after the burial. And we respect that, we will give them time to mourn because as parents, that’s really painful,” said Rayos.
“They told our investigators that they will file the necessary complaints after the burial,” she said.
What they know so far, according to Rayos, is that the girl died from an adverse reaction to the drug.
Derick Carreon, spokesman of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), also confirmed the incident.
“Yes we heard about it, but we were told by our field personnel that the parents would not cooperate,” Carreon told the Manila Bulletin in a separate interview.
Asked about rumors that the party drug was identified as “Strawberry Quick” crystal meth, Rayos said that matter was still subject to investigation.
Rumors about Strawberry Quick alarmed some parents in the United States a few years ago. It is allegedly one of the products aimed at luring teenagers to use drugs through flavored illegal drugs.
But Carreon said they have not officially encountered that kind of drug in the Philippines.
“We have not obtained any sample of that here in our country,” said Carreon.