ZAMBOANGA CITY – Two children from a poor Muslim family died and a third sibling remains critical in hospital after eating a broth mixed with a wild tuber in this southern Filipino city.
The children – one and three years old – died in hospital a
day after consuming the deadly soup cooked by their grandmother on Monday. The
family lives in a shanty in the village of Cawit where the old woman gathered
wild vegetables and root crops to feed her family.
Elephant Yam (Digital Herbarium of Crop Plants)
The one year old died on Monday and the second victim on Tuesday. Before they died, the old woman also fed them biscuits.
“Hindi naman intentional yun. Niluto ni Lola yun Bagung at
pinakain sa mga bata,” (The old woman cooked the broth and fed it to the
children. It was not intentional.) one neighbor said, adding the children were
fed with a clear broth mixed with the plant locally called Bagung.
She said the plant is edible. “Kinakain rin namin yun
Bagung,” (We are eating the same plant.) she said.
Bagung, also called Pungapong or Elephant
yam plant or whitespot
giant arum (Amorphophallus
paeoniifolius) is a tropical plant native to Southeast Asia. It is cultivated
for its edible tubers in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Madagascar, New Guinea,
and the Pacific islands.
Health authorities were investigating the death of the children. (Mindanao Examiner)
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