A nine-year-old boy died after he was electrocuted while climbing the fence of a machine shop in Barangay Calumpang, General Santos City.

According to the boy’s father, his son had been playing computer games at an internet café earlier. He told his son to go home, and his son simply nodded in response.

Later, the boy’s father was informed that the boy had gone to the area of the machine shop.

“Wala mi kabalo diay nga muingon siya muuli. nagdula pa diay, nikuyog sa iyang amigo niabot diri, nagdula dula nagsaka-saka diri daw,” the boy’s father said.

The shop owner said he put up a live wire on the fence to ward off thieves.

“Pila ka beses na man gud nakawatan diri. Kay purya buyag man pud diri, daghan man gud mga kawatan gud. Kanang kwan dili man na pangbata, pangdagko man gud na, pangpatagam. Pero ang bata man pud napuruhan,” the shop owner said.

The boy’s father denied that his son was trying to steal something.

“Wala man pud bakal nga nakatag diya. Kung bakal man pud magbutang daw ingun ani diay, unsa na gold na iyang mga gamit diha,” the father’s boy added.

The shop owner reportedly assured to provide assistance for the burial expenses.

The family of the boy will no longer press charges against the shop owner, who is also their relative.

An official of the barangay directed the shop owner to remove the live wire as the same is a violation based on an ordinance.

“Murag iyahang giproteksyonan iyahang (property) pero kana siya, bawal gyud na siya lalo na kung residential, sikit-sikit nga mga balay. Ang amua, ginaimbestigar na man ang PNP, giadtuan na man pud na sa atoang barangay tanod. Ipatanggal gyud na katong wire nga ilang gibutang murag nakalinya sa alambre unya gi-attach-an didto ang wire. Ipatanggal na,” Barangay Calumpang Chairman Arthur Ryan Dupalco said.