Police to investigate mother of 10-year-old boy found dead inside a fireman’s car

The car owned by a fireman in Balamban, Cebu where the body of a 10-year-old boy was found past 2 p.m. on Oct. 5, 2019. | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The police in Balamban town will conduct a separate investigation into the mother of the 10-year-old boy who was found dead inside the car of a town fireman on Saturday, October 5, 2019.

Read more: 10-year-old boy found dead inside a fireman’s car in Balamban town

Police Major Christian Torres, Balamban Police chief, disclosed to CDN Digital today, October 6, that they were now looking into the background of the mother of the victim since the boy appeared to be the second of her children to have died.

Torres shared that he was worried for the five other surviving children of the mother, all of whom are still minors, especially since some of their neighbors told the police that the mother allegedly did not not appear to care for her children.

Residents near the fire station also told the police that they often saw the boy wandering by himself around the neighborhood’s street.

The boy was found lifeless sometime past 2 p.m. on Saturday inside the car of Fire Officer 1 Paul Romero that was parked outside of the Balamban Fire Station.

Romero was about to head home after a 12-hour duty and was reaching for his jacket at the backseat of his car when he saw the boy lying unconscious on the floor.  Medical personnel called to attend to the boy could not revive the child. Police later surmised the boy could have died of suffocation since the car’s windows were all closed in the 12 hours that it was parked in front of the fire station.

Romero did not recall leaving his car open when he went on duty at around midnight of October 4 and did not know when and how the boy was able to get inside his car, according to Torres.

Torres said they would coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DWSD) to see if there is a negligence on the part of the mother leading to the death of the boy.

“Mao ni atoa gina lantaw karon kung dili ba siya liable nga ginapasagdan ra niya (We are still evaluating if the parent could be held liable for negligence),” said Torres.

Torres said they learned that the father of the boy already died, leaving the mother alone to look after her then seven young children.

According to Torres, when they talked to the mother of the boy, she seemed not interested to have the body of her son go through an autopsy as she was convinced her child died of suffocation, as per the initial finding of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) personnel who processed the scene.

Read more: 10-year-old boy may have died from suffocation inside a fireman’s car in Balamban

Torres also believed the boy suffocated to death. He said investigators found traces of the boy’s vomit and excreted waste inside the car, which the doctor confirmed to be some of the common body reactions when a person was near death.

The body of the boy is now in his family’s home in Sitio Mangga 1, Barangay Canbuhawe, Balamban, Cebu, according to Torres.

He said Romero has pledged to help the mother with the funeral expenses./elb