MANILA, Philippines — The mother of the Grade 5 student who was rushed to the hospital three days after allegedly being slapped by their teacher is calling for justice after their child’s death.
Elena Minggoy said her 14-year-old son died Monday morning after medical tests showed a blood vessel erupted in his brain, according to an interview with Radyo Pilipinas.
Minggoy asked for Vice President Sara Duterte, concurrently education secretary, to help in attaining justice for her son’s death.
An autopsy report that would confirm the cause of death of Minggoy’s son has yet to be completed due to lack of funds, Minggoy told Radyo 630 on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education’s (DepEd) division office in Antipolo City and the regional office are already probing the incident, DepEd representatives told reporters through Viber.
DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa said the schools division superintendent is already investigating the matter and will personally visit Peñafrancia Elementary School to conduct an inquiry.
Minggoy’s son was reportedly slapped by his teacher after being scolded for the noise being made by his classmates during a test, Minggoy told Radyo 630.
Based on the account of her son, Minggoy said that after her son was reprimanded, his teacher pulled on his collar, pulled his hair and slapped him.
“My son told me that after he was slapped, he temporarily went deaf from the slap,” Minggoy said in Filipino.
The Grade 5 student still went to school for three days after the incident. But he started experiencing dizziness, headaches and vomiting on September 26, which required him to be taken to a hospital to receive immediate medical attention, Minggoy said.
Minggoy's son fell into a coma and died on Monday.
She added that brain scans and x-ray scans showed that there was bleeding in her son’s brain.
A representative of the Antipolo City local government told Philstar.com that the city government has formed a team to investigate the incident.
“DepEd Antipolo has informed the Mayor about it last night. We are still waiting for the written report though Mayor Ynares has already created a team composed of the city social welfare officer, health officer, legal officer among others to assess what happened and the interventions necessary moving forward,” the representative of the Antipolo city government said.