Girlfriend, boyfriend end lives in separate suicides

Trigger warning: Suicide

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A Teduray woman and her boyfriend took their own lives seven hours apart in a secluded barangay in South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur on Sunday.

The South Upi Municipal Police Station, in a report on Monday to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the young woman, whose full name is withheld on request of relatives, was found lifeless in Sitio Lambangian in Barangay Kuya after their clan elders reportedly opposed her planned marriage with her boyfriend.

The woman’s boyfriend, who is from the nearby Kalamansig town in Sultan Kudarat, also ended his life several hours later in another area in Barangay Kuya when he learned that her girlfriend had committed suicide.

His relatives immediately took his body, which they intended to bury in his nearby hometown, Kalamansig in Sultan Kudarat province, about 30 kilometers southwest of South Upi.

South Upi Mayor Reynalbert Insular has dispatched social welfare service employees of their local government unit to the families of the two for counseling and other humanitarian interventions.

If you or someone you know needs help, the National Center for Mental Health Crisis Hotline can be reached through the following hotlines: toll-free Luzon-wide landline (1553), Globe/TM (0966-351-4518 and 0917-899-8727), or Smart/Sun/TNT (0908-639-2672).