POLICE have yet to determine the real motive of the man who jumped to his death from the third floor of Gaisano Mall along C.M. Recto avenue Sunday afternoon, but they are certain that no foul play was involved.
Police Senior Inspector Evan Viñas, Agora Police Station commander, said there were several possibilities why Mc Rorenz Laborte, 21, committed suicide.
Upon receiving a call from Oliver Magsalos about the suicide, Agora police officers led by Senior Police Officer 2 Teofanes Murillo and two others immediately rushed to the incident area, cordoned and established a police line.
The unidentified witness said “the victim jumped off from the escalator near the 3rd floor of the mall, for no reason.”
Scene of the Crime Operatives’ (Soco) medico-legal officer Senior Inspector West Edquila said there were no signs that Laborte was pushed by another person, which caused him to fall to the ground floor.
Edquila said Laborte sustained several injuries and bone fractures on different parts of his body.
Edquila said the victim broke his neck and part of head was damaged due to impact.
‘Tell my mother I love her’
Laborte, a fourth year college student of Xavier University who took up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), had changed his attitude hours before the incident, Viñas said quoting statements from the victim’s relatives.
“Wala man sab sila mag-ingon kon unsay rason nga nalahi na daw ang attitude niya (Laborte). Weirdo kuno kaayo siya adto nga time,” he added.
“Tell my mother I love her,” said Laborte to his cousin before he jumped off leading to his immediate death, according to his cousin in an interview on TV Patrol – Northern Mindanao.
School performance
“Na under siya sa ako before, okay iyang performance (He was my student before, and his performance is okay),” said Rustum Gevero, a faculty of the School of Business & Management at Xavier University.
There are rumors around the campus and in text messages about the possible cause of his death but no definite cause was confirmed.
But according to his cousin in an interview via TV Patrol – Northern Mindanao, the possible cause of suicide was the closing of the subjects that he should have taken this semester.
Depression
Psychology instructor June Baunillo told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro that depression is mostly the cause why a person commits suicide.
She added that suicide attempts are not sporadic; rather, they undergo stages or certain warning signs.
Baunillo said the more detailed a person planned for his suicide, the more resolute it is to commit suicide.
“Extreme sadness, talking and writing about death, isolating one’s self, giving away important things,” Baunillo cited as the signs of depression that could lead to suicide attempts.
Dr. Benson Go, a psychiatrist at Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), said in a television interview that depressed individuals “should talk to someone, or be with somebody.”
He added that going to open spaces could also help.
XU students’ suicide
Laborte was not the first student who took his own life.
Roldan Bacadon, a magna cum laude graduate of Xavier University committed suicide April 10, 2009 through drinking rat poison and slashing his wrist, according to an article in ucanews.com.
The same website added: “Ephraim de la Cruz, a Nursing student at the university also died after hanging himself, for reasons that are still unclear.”
De la Cruz committed the act after a few weeks Bacadon died.
Bacadon and De la Cruz were allegedly depressed when they committed suicide, according to a post in Mindanaoan.com dated May 19, 2009. Laborte is just the latest case.
Xavier University offers free psychological services to its students through the Psychological Services Center which is available from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.