San Dionisio exec warns public from eating puffer fish
San Dionisio Mayor Pio Villanueva called on the people not to eat puffer fish or any of its kind as it is poisonous. His appeal came in wake of the recent death of a couple from his town who ate buriring, a type of poisonous puffer fish.
San Dionisio has rich fishing grounds. Most of the people earn their livelihood through fishing. It is located north of Iloilo.
The victims were couple Jury Padios and his wife Emma of Barangay Tiabas, San Dionisio. They cooked the buriring into a "pinamalhan", a local dish, and feasted on it Saturday night. However, hours later, the couple felt dizzy and began to vomit.
They were rushed to the Sara District Hospital Saturday midnight. The following day, the couple died. They left their eight children. Their kids did not join their parents when they dined on buriring. The remaining cooked buriring were thrown by the victims' relatives after learning of the couple's death.
Villanueva said the people should not gamble themselves by eating buriring for food. The victims are fishermen and they knew the fish is poisonous, he said. Nevertheless, the chief executive said he will extend help to the couple's family.
Meanwhile, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Regional Director Drusila Esther Ong said they have yet to receive official report about the recent incident to confirm if the death is caused by eating a puffer fish.
Buriring is like a butete but is smaller in size. Said fish usually go with sapsap and other demersal fishes, the reason they are caught along with the edible fishes.
Ong said the municipal health officer of San Dionisio should make a request to the department for them to check whether the fish caused the death of the couple. The remaining cooked buriring should serve as specimen to determine the toxic elements contained in the fish bodies that were swallowed by the victims.