Raps readied in Bohol poisoning

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is readying charges against the 68-year-old woman who cooked the cassava sweets which killed 28 school children in Mabini, Bohol last March 27.

NBI director Reynaldo Wyco—co said the charges against Ana Luyong might be filed on March 29.

At present, the NBI is mulling charges of multiple homicide and multiple frustrated homicide resulting from reckless imprudence against the old woman.

But Wycoco said everything will depend on the evaluation by an NBI psychiatrist of Luyong’s "state of mind."

Last March 17, the NBI released its laboratory findings that "coumaphos," an organo phosphate used in making insecticides or pesticides, not cassava, caused the poisoning.

"There is a possibility that there was evident premeditation, meaning that once the test results show that Luyong intentionally placed pesticide in the vat while cooking the cassava snacks, charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder will be filed," Wycoco said.

The NBI’s findings corroborated the official test results of the Department of Health showing that cassava, known to contain hydrocyanic acid, was not the cause of the mass poisoning.

Isabel Pagulayan, NBI forensic chemistry division chief, said large doses of coumaphos can be used to remove ticks or fleas from animals or to kill weeds.

"But even in small amounts, it can be potent," Pagulayan said, adding that about 13 to 14 milligrams, or one-fourth teaspoon, of coumaphos could have been mixed in the cassava sweets.

Luyong is still confined in the intensive care unit of a Bohol hospital due to a heart ailment.