Other relatives of the 14-year-old boy also insisted that he could have been intentionally drowned or one of his friends pushed him into the river. Hence, they wanted the authority to further conduct additional assessment to verify the theory. This prompted Balungao police chief Senior Inspector Virgilio Cruz to request the friends of the high school student, who were present during the incident, to immediately report to the police station for a short interrogation.

On the other hand, some netizens said that it is also possible that the 14-year-old high school student was drowned after he accidentally fell to the river in the town of Balungao, Pangasinan.