CEBU CITY – Never leave your children playing in hazardous areas such as rivers.
FOUR-year-old Ernesto ‘Junjun’ Laboc Jr. is seen playing before he drowned in a murky river in Barangay Day-as, Cebu City on Saturday, October 7. (Video screengrab via Calvin D. Cordova)
Police issued this reminder after a four-year-old boy drowned in a river in Barangay Day-as here on Saturday, October 7.
“My reminders to those living near rivers, we should always monitor our children," said Police Master Sgt. Nemisio Dinopol of the Parian Police Station.
The fatality was identified as Ernesto “Junjun” Laboc Jr.
The tragic incident happened around 4 p.m. while the boy was playing in the river together with his three-year-old cousin.
The incident was captured by a closed-circuit television camera mounted at the mouth of the river.
In the CCTV footage, Laboc was seen walking in the middle of the river until he reached a deep portion.
The boy struggled to keep afloat and eventually drowned.
Dinopol said the victim’s parents did not know that their son went to the river to play.
The boy’s parents thought that he was just in a nearby internet cafe.
His body was recovered at around 7 p.m.