Sweets poison over 600 in Southern Philippines | Mindanao Examiner

Aquino admits they have bulk buyers from Surigao but could not say for certain if the arrested vendors are among them.

The arrested suspects in Cagwait were identified as Richard Rivera Jr., Junnil Teriote, John Dequilla, Joel Pasa, and Martinez Bocaycay, all residents of Calinan, Davao City.

“I already issued a memorandum to all chiefs of police, mayors and school principals to stay vigilant against (unscrupulous ambulant vendors)”, Surigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel told the Inquirer by phone.

The maker of Wendy’s Durian Candy, the suspected cause of food poisoning outbreak affecting approximately 2000 students in the Caraga region, appeared to Talomo Police Station to refute involvement in the incident.

They were arrested on board an L-300 FB Van (MEM-366) registered under the name of the Executive pastor of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ at the KJC compound at Phil-Jap Highway, Davao City, the reports said.

Despite this, Llacuna said they are no longer expecting more cases following the apprehension of nine men and women who supposedly sold the durian sweets to the children.

As of writing, police are still investigating whether the candies were expired or were deliberately laced with poison.

Pimentel said police are still trying to establish why the suspects travelled a few 300 kilometers from their home province to sell the candies.

Cagayan de Oro City – Authorities in the Caraga region have gone on alert after the number of food poisoning cases reached 1,699 overnight since Friday afternoon, with victims being reported from the provinces of Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Sur. They are Genelyn Dorgas Pasa, 26, of Davao City, and Henryto Bitco Amoguis, 21, of Valencia, Bukidnon. We are doing everything to get to the bottom of this. “We are attending to this with urgency as this involves public health and is imbued with public interest”.

Dr. Jeanne Maningo, city health officer in Agusan del Sur, pointed out that several students started arriving at the Bayugan City Community Hospital around 5:00 in the afternoon of July 10.

The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office has yet to confirm if anyone died from the incident, as reported by Rappler.

The initial DOH report indicated that the first 286 reported cases came from the town of Cagwait in Surigao del Sur on July 10, Friday morning.

“The owner is not yet off the hook because of many findings of violations, like expiration dates of the products and proper labeling of the products”.