Baguio students take own lives; cops probe as suicide cases go up

By Aldwin Quitasol

BAGUIO CITY — Authorities here are investigating separate cases of reported suicide of two students among others in this summer capital.
    The latest victims were identified as Patrick Angelo Gonzales Oreta, a native of Nueva Ecija and Arjay Caluza Madayag, a student and a tattoo artist.
    According to nearby Tuba, Benguet police, Oreta sent a note before his alleged suicide to his mother and on 28 May, his body was found at Barangay Yagyagan, of the town by a resident there.
    Oreta was said to have a gunshot wound on his body.
    Police disclosed the other victim sent a video message to his live-in partner about his plan to take his own life and was later found lifeless at the first floor of the boarding house he was living by one of his board mates afternoon of May 30.
    The Baguio City Health Services Office (CHSO) recently reported an increase in suicide incidents in the Summer Capital in 2021, and majority of those who committed suicide were males.
    City Health Services officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said their mental health program recorded a total of 37 suicide incidents involving 32 males and five females.
    Nurse Ricky Ducas, mental health responder and coordinator of the program, said the 2021 number represents a 23 percent increase from the 30 suicide cases in 2020.
    "The increase in our suicide cases is alarming and the upturn in male suicide mostly belonging to the young adult age group is staggering," Ducas said.
    Ducas said young adults were vulnerable to suicide as their developmental milestones on love and belonging were rooted in their peers and the community. The CHSO also noted rampant reports of deliberate self-harm among the youth, and assessments showed links to dysfunctional family conditions and exhaustion from the pandemic.
    Mental health experts explained these were parasuicide type of self-directed violence where the patients' intention was not really to take their own lives.
    Ducas said, on the whole, there was an increase in the number of common mental health concerns in 2021, particularly depression, anxiety and psychosis.
    He said most of those diagnosed with said mental health problems under the CHSO's mental health program belonged to the younger age groups followed by the working-age category.
    There was also a noted increase in patients who sought professional help as compared to the previous year because people now tend to be more open about their mental health issues.
    To help address the problem, the city's mental health program will step up its service to provide free assistance to individuals seeking consultations, basic medications and other interventions. This is on top of the health and wellness program information-education-communication strategies regularly conducted for the public. – With a report from Dexter See