NEARLY 34 hours after he was reported missing, the lifeless body of a 16-year-old athlete was found floating in Cabahug shipyard in Barangay Opao, Mandaue City, Sunday morning, August 18.
The Mandaue City Police identified the victim as a certain Christian Joseph Lumapas, a junior high school student from SHS-Ateneo de Cebu. He was last seen in Banilad Town Center around 1:30 a.m last Saturday.
Police Colonel Jonathan Abella, Mandaue City Police Chief, said residents of Barangay Opao reported that they found a dead body that matched the description of Lumapas, around 11 a.m. on Sunday.
“Our personnel from the Investigation and Detective Management Branch confirmed that the victim committed suicide as shown in a CCTV footage recorded around 2 a.m.," he said.
Police Major Aldrin Villacampa, Mandaue Police Station 5 Chief, said Lumapas’ identity was first confirmed by the latter’s football coach, Julius Tapia, which was also affirmed by the victim’s family.
“The victim reportedly wore black shirt and a dark colored jogging pants, also his white pair of rubber shoes, that matches Lumpas’ description,” he said.
He said although they haven’t seen any signs of struggle or foul play, they are still pursuing a deeper investigation on the incident.
“As of now, we are still talking to his family. It was an apparent suicide. In the CCTV footage, you can see that he was sad.. He dropped off from a motorcycle,and walked slowly towards the middle of the bridge where he jumped,” he said.
Lumapas, a football player, was featured by SunStar Cebu in 2018 as he represented the country in an international tournament in U16 category in Surabaya, Indonesia. He was then the lone representative from Cebu who made it to the pool of 23 players from different cities in the country.
Lumapas’ family has publicly sought for help, through a Facebook post, to help them identify his whereabouts.
The said post containing Lumpas’ description, photo, and his family’s contact numbers were shared by various media outlets online.
Tawag Paglaum Centro Bisaya, a 24/7 suicide prevention and crisis intervention hotline is accessible through numbers 0939-937-5433; 0939-936-5433 and 0927-654-1629.