Woman dies from cobra bite during New Year’s Day picnic

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January 4, 2026 | 5:44pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A 34-year-old woman died in only about three hours after she was bitten by a cobra along a river in an upland area in Kulaman Valley in Arakan town in Cotabato on New Year’s Day.

Employees of the Arakan Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office confirmed reports on Sunday of the incident, which resulted in the death of Jenisa Clambog Mandi, who, along with friends, was on a picnic at a downstream stretch of a river in a hinterland area in Kulaman Valley.

Her companions killed with stones the seven-foot cobra that attacked her, according to barangay officials.

Municipal and barangay officials said on Sunday that Mandi, a resident of Barangay Binoongan in Kitaotao, Bukidnon, died in a medical dispensary in only about three hours after a cobra bit her in the leg.

Local executives said Mandi travelled all the way from her hometown in Bukidnon to Arakan to visit friends and relatives and celebrate New Year’s Day with them.