COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Police here said depression pushed a 29-year-old Muslim
woman from Barangay Lipa, Barira, Maguindanao to leap from the third floor of
old Hotel Castro building along Sinsuat Avenue about noon Friday.
This was the report received by Senior Supt. Victor Valencia, Cotabato
City police director, on the incident.
The woman, Saguira Sandap Masandag, 29 years old, a former Overseas
Filipino Worker (OFW), was separated from her husband she married four months
ago.
Masandag was last seen by witnesses went to the old Hotel Castro
building at about 10 p.m. Later, she was
seen at veranda of the building's third floor, gesturing she will leap.
She was seen holding a knife and a bag with a Holy Quran.
Police conducted negotiations, that lasted about an hour, to convince
her to abandon her plan. She asked for a
gun but was given a toy gun.
The police, appearing to be ill-prepared in such situation, failed to
convince the woman until she leaped.
Images that went viral on the internet showed the police even had no
stretcher or cushions to at least limit the impact of her fall.
Even after the woman landed on the concrete pavement, authorities
obviously showed it was not prepared.
A civilian and a police officer hauled her to an rescue van that rushed
Masandag to the hospital. She was pronounced dead on arrival.
At past 11 p.m. relatives fetched her remains. (Photo and News Courtesy
of NDBC News Cotabato/By Edwin O. Fernandez )
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