Barangay Luz Captain Ronilo Sab-a passes away during an outing in Liloan

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Barangay Captain Ronilo Sab-a of Barangay Luz, Cebu City has passed away during a beach outing with friends in a resort in Liloan town in northern Cebu on Friday afternoon of February 12, 2021.

Sab-a, 52, was found unresponsive in knee-deep water in a resort in Barangay Jubay at around 4 p.m. on Friday, a police report said.

According to the report, Luzviminda Plasus, elder sister of the barangay captain, said that his brother had hypertension and had already suffered a mild stroke.

Initial investigation showed that Sab-a was in a beach outing with friends when the tragic incident happened.

“Nag amot-amot ni sila kay wa baya silay trabaho. Ga ligo-ligo sila unya ila gi imbitar nila si kap,” said Luz Barangay Councilor Jerume Pagador in an interview.

(His friends chipped in because they had no work for the day. They invited the barangay captain to the beach outing.)

At past 4 p.m., Sab-a was swimming in knee-deep water when suddenly his companions noticed that something was wrong with the barangay captain.

They hurriedly went to his aid and found out that he was unresponsive. They then rushed him to the  Eversley Childs Sanitarium and General Hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

Liloan police advised the family members to have the victim undergo an autopsy to determine the cause of his death.

Sab-a was one of the first barangay officials in Cebu City to face a community transmission of the virus with Barangay Luz being the first barangay in the city to experience this. /dbs