ILOILO CITY — A high school student was successfully rescued Friday after attempting to commit suicide in La Paz, Iloilo City over the weekend.

Liza (not her real name) climbed a billboard advertising a product by telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) in PLDT’s Iloilo main office, intending to end her life by jumping to her death from atop the billboard.

Rescue workers and law enforcers rushed to the scene and made efforts to secure the area in case she jumped off the billboard, which rises over 50 feet from the ground.

Rescue volunteers Robert Torre, Darwin Papa, and Joseph Señeres of Royal Eagles led a team that also included Randy Plenago of the Iloilo City Crisis Management office. They clambered up the billboard and talked to the troubled girl, who paid them no heed.

On the ground, two negotiators from aforesaid Crisis Management Team and La Paz Philippine National Police (PNP) repeatedly talked to the girl, but the latter was also unresponsive.

It was only when her uncle and mother arrived in the scene and spoke to her via mobile phone that she agreed to come down with the rescuers.

The volunteers from the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade Inc. also played an instrumental role during the latter part of the rescue efforts.

Brothers Henry and Hubert Sio rode the movable crane of the Federation’s fire truck, plucked the girl from the billboard and brought her down to safety.

The girl was immediately taken to the Women and Children's Protection Desk (WCPD) at Police Precinct 1 of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) where she confided with authorities about her family problems.

According to a neighbor who requested anonymity, the girl was being pressured to keep up with her studies and at the same time, help out in a family-owned carinderia within a subdivision in Jaro District.