RIZAL, Nueva Ecija — “Halo-halo,” the Filipinos’ favorite summer snack and dessert, downed at least 31 farm workers in Barangay Estrella in this agricultural municipality on Wednesday.
Chief Inspector Manuel Catacutan, town police chief, on Thursday said the victims, led by Rene Rivera, 36, married, resident of the said village, took a break from uprooting grasses in an onion farm to refresh with halo-halo prepared by a certain Lina Guting, 34, the farm owner, at about 10:30 am.
After about an hour, however, the victims suffered dizziness and vomiting, investigation showed.
The farm workers were brought to the municipality’s Rural Health Unit (RHU) but had to be transferred to the Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center (PJGMRMC) for further treatment.
The victims were subsequently discharged from the hospital.
Catacutan said no one has so far expressed intention to file charges against Guting as she and her family members were also among those hospitalized.
The ingredients used in the preparation of the halo-halo were submitted to the Nueva Ecija police crime laboratory office in Cabanatuan City for examination, police said. (PNA)
