THE slap of his teacher did not cause the death of the 14-year-old Grade 5 student from Antipolo Rizal, the police said.
Antipolo City police officer-in-charge Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Manongdo said on Wednesday evening, October 11, 2023, that based on the examination conducted on Francis Jay Gumikib’s remains, he died of a “rare” brain condition.
He said the findings have already been discussed to Gumikib’s family.
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Manongdo said the teacher will be cleared of homicide complaint but they are still looking for the possible filing of child abuse charges against her, depending on the discretion of Gumikib’s parents.
He said they also advised the parents of the child to consult with another expert should they have any doubt.
In a separate press conference earlier the day, Lieutenant Colonel Maria Anna Lissa dela Cruz, chief medico legal officer of the Rizal provincial field unit, said that based on autopsy and histopathological examination, Gumikib’s cause of death was cerebral edema secondary to intra-cerebral hemorrhage consistent with ruptured arteriovenous malformation, which is “non-traumatic in nature” and of “unknown cause.”
“With regards to the layman’s term of the cause of death intracerebral edema is pamamaga ng utak and intracerebral hemorrhage is ‘yung pagdudugo ng utak. ‘Yung edema ang nag cause ng intracerebral hemorrhage…Sinabi natin na non-traumatic ang nature ng pagputok ng ugat na yun is mostly it’s a rare condition but it’s the most common cause of intracerebral hemorrhage considering the age group of our patient also. It’s the symptoms or the hemorrhage occurs between 1 to 18 years old,” she said.
“At first asymptomatic, walang symptoms tapos bigla na lang kasi fragile po ‘yung mga ugat na yun na it can rupture or burst simultaneously or spontaneously and in other cases naman, meron pong tension on that particular anomaly doon sa utak. In this case, ‘yung hemorrhage as backup by the CT scan from the hospital, it came from the innermost area, so initially it’s in the medullary pontine area,” she added.
She noted that if a person died due to a trauma in the head, it can be seen through the examination of the skull.
“Kunwari kapag namatay ‘yung taong yun na nauntog, makikita yun sa loob ng skull na meron siya hematoma o blood clot doon. If not, a lacerated wound on that area,” she added.
(Supposedly, when a person who was hit dies, it can be seen inside the skull that he has a hematoma or blood clot there. If not, a lacerated wound on that area.)
In a radio interview Thursday, October 12, 2023, Gumikib’s mother, Elena Minggoy, said she was surprised that the abuse her son had suffered in the hands of his teacher was not seen in the examination.
She admitted, though, that she did not notice any physical injury on him, just his complaint of severe headache and dizziness.
Asked what their next step would be particularly on the filing of charges against the teacher and on the possibility of his son being examined by another expert, Minggoy said she does not know yet.
“Sa ngayon, minsan kaya ako nakakapagsalita na ayaw ko talagang magpapainterview na kasi ang pakiramdan ko ngayon imbis na sakit, sobra na namamanhid pati dibdib ko ngayon, kaya nga yun talaga ang sabi ko kapag may mga tumatawag sa akin, ayoko ko muna. Gusto ko muna matahimik muna habang nandito pa ang anak ko,” she said.
(Right now, sometimes I can say that I really don't want to do an interview because I don’t feel pain now. I feel numb, that's why I don't want to talk to people. I want silence while my son is still here.)
Gumikib will be laid to rest on Sunday, October 15, 2023.
Francis Jay Gumikib, 14, died on October 2, 11 days after he was reportedly collared, slapped and pulled in the hair by his teacher.
Minggoy said earlier that her son told her that the incident happened on September 20 when he called out the attention of his teacher due to his noisy classmates.
Based on the death certificate released by the Amang Rodriguez Medical Center, Gumikib’s immediate cause of death was global brain edema or the swelling of the brain. (SunStar Philippines)