ALCALA, Cagayaan—A mother blames a senior high school teacher here for the suicide of her son last week.
Mela Sergia, mother of 18-year-old student Ronnel, believes that her son’s tragic death was the fault of a teacher.
“The teacher shamed my son in front of his classmates, telling him he will not finish senior high school because his school fees were not yet paid in full,” Sergia alleged in an interview with local radio station Bombo Radyo.
Bombo Radyo said it tried to reach the accused teacher, identified as Mark Anthony Cabison, but he refused an interview.
This follows an incident from two months ago, when a Cagayan State University student committed suicide on the evening on Jan. 16, a few days after being refused enrollment due to balances in the previous semester.
Police reported that student Rodolfo S. Urmanita, a native of Barangay Dugo, Camalaniugan, was found dead in his boarding house in Barangay Caritan Norte, Tuguegarao City.
The Commission on Higher Education recently announced that tuition for state universities and colleges was free following a P48-billion subsidy from the national government through the Department of Education.
Sergia admitted that her son reminded her of the unpaid fees when he got home in the afternoon of March 14.
“I assured him I will talk to her teachers that I will pay the balance later,” Sergia said in the radio interview.
However, Sergia found later that day that Ronnel hanged himself in their kitchen.
An exchange of text messages between the dead student and his classmate and teacher was discovered later.
The text message to the teacher said that it was painful for the student not to finish senior high school.
