The family of the Virac woman electrocuted by a defective, China-made radio bought online for P187 is seeking justice for her death but is unsure of how to go about it.
A son-in-law of Ma. Jenny Tabirara Quintal, accompanied by another relative, sought assistance from the Tribune last Saturday afternoon regarding the 48-year-old woman’s demise last June 26, 2024.
According to Sammy Tabios, 23, the incident occurred at about 1 PM in their house along the national road at Purok 3, Valencia, in front of the Servants of Jesus compound.
The small radio, ordered online through e-commerce platform Shopee, arrived a day earlier, June 25 but it was on the following day that the package was opened.
After taking their lunch, Quintal was carrying her daughter’s seven-month-old baby girl, intending to use music to lull her to sleep.
As her husband went into the sala to watch something on his laptop, she and her grandchild entered the bedroom and then she laid the baby on the bed.
As they had no batteries for the radio, Quintal plugged the attached power cord into the electrical outlet inside the family bedroom and after fiddling with the controls, the small, largely plastic appliance began issuing music from a local FM station.
Finding the sound not to her liking, she apparently tried to find a stronger signal using the metal antenna.
Outside, her husband heard her cry out in pain and then the sound of falling, with the sound of her voice fading.
Her daughter asked her father to look after her mother, concerned that the plastic Durabox container might have fallen on her.
The husband tried to open the bedroom door but it was partially blocked by Quintal’s body.
Finally opening the door, he saw her wife on the floor, with the radio on her chest and her right hand wrapped around the metal antenna.
When he tried to raise her up, he felt electric current coursing from her, prompting him to run to the breaker to shut it down.
As they carried the victim out of the room, she let out a long breath and slumped.
In anger, her husband got the radio from her chest and threw it on the floor, with the appliance shattering into several pieces.
They brought her on a tricycle to the Catanduanes Doctors Hospital, Inc. (CDHI) just a hundred meters away but it was already too late.
Efforts to revive Quintal failed, with the attending physician, Dr. Jorina Flandez, declaring her death due to ventricular fibrillation, or the uncoordinated twitching of the heart’s two main chambers, caused by electrical burn.
Later, Tabios and another family member went to the office which had the Shopee package delivered and the personnel told them that they would contact the seller.
They also heard the guard say that other customers had complained about the radio and asked for a refund, claiming that the appliance was “grounded.”
They were told to come back on Monday, July 1, for any update from the seller, identified on the receipt as Cathand Online Shop, with business address at “Number 9 Warehouse, Hung Fung Comp., Dona Elena St,, Brgy. Punturin (Bypass), Valenzuela City, Metro Manila.”
Its online shop indicated it sold eye makeup, lip makeup, tools and accessories, face makeup, skin care, and fragrances but the store also sold rechargeable electric fans, extension wires, calculators, PC power supply, gaming equipment and speakers.
At the time the Tribune checked the site last Sunday afternoon (June 29), it no longer advertised the radio delivered to the Quintal residence: a Pu Xing PX-300LED AM/FM/SW radio with rechargeable battery and AC/DC jack.
Research shows the radio was manufactured by Dongguan Minglongpu Electronic Co.,Ltd., of Shangpengmiao Industry Shimei, Wanjiang in the industrial city of Dongguan, Guangdong province, China.
In its website, the company describes itself as “one of the leading manufacturers of radio and radio cassettes.”
Established in 2001 and with more than 500 employees, Minglongpu said its tenet is “Customer and Quality First” and its “Puxing” brand well-known in the world.
It claims it has an annual output of 4 million pieces and is developing consumer electronic products and other high-tech related products.
However, the website no longer features the PX-300LED radio in its listing of “New Modles” such as radios, USB radios, small radios, wooden radios, solar radios, radio cassette recorders and Bluetooth speakers.
The same site lists its contact numbers as (Tel) 86-769-22171943 22183308 and (Fax) 86-769-22706881, with E-mail address as puxing88@china.com.