‘Suicide’ of girl probed

By Romeo R. Braceros Jr.

MAYOR Rodrigo Duterte ordered authorities to conduct a deeper investigation on other possible reasons aside from poverty that may have driven 12-year-old Mariannet Amper to commit suicide.

Duterte made the order as he took note that the father of the girl, Isabelo, reported the death to barangay officials only on November 6, or four days after the incident, was suspicious.

The mayor also said instead of reporting it to the police, the family decided to go to the girl’s teacher first.

He said there was a big possibility that the victim killed herself not only because of poverty but other reasons as well.

This developed as an official of the Department of Education confirmed that some classmates claimed the girl revealed to them that she had a huge problem.

Jenelito Atillo, spokesperson of the agency, said the girl even told a classmate not to mention to her teacher that she had a problem that was hard to solve.

The P100 school fee that the girl was supposed to have asked her father, Atillo said, was for a project of the Parents Teachers Association for a television set. The school was not behind the project, he added.

Atillo explained that the girl’s father, Isabelo, who was the vice president of the organization of parents and teachers, was exempted from paying the contribution in exchange for his carpentry skills.

Duterte also questioned the refusal of the father of the victim to subject the body of the girl undergo autopsy to determine whether there was foul play.

Despite the refusal of the father, Duterte still ordered the police to conduct an autopsy on the corpse.

But the father explained that he refused to have the body of his child be subjected to autopsy because it was already buried and that it was improper to have it exhumed.

The girl’s death got media attention after it was reported that she left behind a diary and a letter to a television reality show about her “wishes.

It also prompted the Department of Social Welfare and Development national office to investigate the circumstances behind the incident.

Source: Mindanao Times