Thirty Dumanjug pupils "possessed"

Classes were suspended in a school in barangay Poblacion, Dumanjug town, after news spread that some thirty female students were allegedly possessed by evil spirits.

Dumanjug police chief Carmelita Condevillamar yesterday said that she personally went to the Little Mary School to observe the reported "possessed students", this after she heard that some parents no longer allowed their children to report to classes yesterday.

As there were only a few students who reported to school yesterday, the nuns who run the school suspended classes.

Condevillamar said that earlier, six students complained of nausea and then collapsed after eating lumpia that they bought outside of their school during their break time.

When the students woke up, they reportedly were speaking incoherently.

But based on the results of the medical examination conducted on them by the town's municipal health officer, they were found to be negative of food poisoning.

Archdiocese spokesman Msgr. Achilles Dakay, upon learning of the matter, said that officials and health experts of Dumanjug should investigate further on the matter and look on other factors that could have caused the incident.

"If there is no explanation about it, then that's the time that we would hop into the supernatural, we should not say and conclude that they are possessed or what," Dakay said.

Fr. Vicente Dayao of the Dumanjug Parish also said that school officials are still conducting an investigation and that the parents should not jump to conclusions.

Personnel of the school refused to make a statement on this matter.