A 15-YEAR-OLD boy fatally stabbed his teacher three times at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 13, inside their classroom at the Pedro "Oloy" N. Roa Senior High School in Barangay Canitoan, Cagayan de Oro City.
The victim, Vilma Cabactulan, succumbed to three stab wounds in the back from her student who immediately fled after the incident.
Cabactulan was brought to Madonna and Child Hospital where she later died.
The 43-year-old was the class adviser of the school's grade nine, section Mendeleev.
Senior Police Officer 4 Dominador Datahan of the Bulua Police Station said the student had silently and swiftly stabbed the teacher while she had her back toward the class.
Police Chief Inspector Arvies Altitche said that the officers who responded to the crime scene recovered the murder weapon, a seven-inch knife, along with the student's bag containing his personal belongings.
The suspect was later persuaded by his parents and uncle to turn himself in to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Northern Mindanao office.
He was turned over to the Bulua Police Station's Women and Children's Protection Desk (WCPD) where he is set to undergo medical and psycho-social examination.
Police Officer 1 Marian Mae Tolentino, of the station’s WCPD, said the boy told investigators that two other boys, both classmates of the suspect, were supposedly involved in the incident.
"He only said that he was particularly and repeatedly reprimanded and humiliated by their teacher. Also according to his side of the story, it was not only him who had the grudge against their teacher,” Tolentino said.
Tolentino said the boy told investigators that the three of them agreed to draw lots to determine who among them would do the stabbing.
She said the suspect also said the knife was only handed to him inside the school.
Tolentino said they have yet to talk to the two other boys mentioned by the suspect.
The family of the minor refused to give any more statements about the incident.
The boy’s classmates characterize the suspect as silent and said the boy may have long held a grudge against Cabactulan, who, they said, had reprimanded the minor for absences and frequent use of the boy’s cellphone inside the classroom.