13-year-old Pupil Hangs Self

Ramzel Halos, 13, a grade six pupil and an honor pupil killed himself in a mango tree growing outside his classroom at the Maghanoy Elementary School in Barili town, Cebu Wednesday, several hours after the celebration of Teachers Day in his school, the local news said.

He was rushed to the Barili District Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

Barili Police Station Chief Marlon Gumabao told local news that there was no foul play in the boy’s death.

No signs indicated that the boy was attacked that he struggled to fight back.

“We only saw strangulation marks on his neck. He died because of suffocation. Mas madaling mamatay sa maliliit na tali (One easily gets strangled on fine ropes),” Gumabao said

The incident took place several hours after their Teachers' Day program held in their school. Before the incident at 3:30 p.m., Halos was seen being in high spirits and dancing in the school program, the news said.

The teachers were shocked upon learning that Halos had just hanged himself.

Parental neglect of love and care is believed to be the cause of Halos' death as alleged by a school guidance counselor.

Vivelyn Balucos, grade one teacher and the school guidance counselor said she had heard Halos telling his classmates that he was going to kill himself that day for his grandmother did not buy him a Boy Scout uniform, the news said.

But Balucos dismissed that report for “that was foolish." "There were more serious problems he faced,” Balucos said in Cebuano.

As a school’s guidance counselor, Balucos recalled that she was confided by Halos of his problems at home. She noticed that the boy "felt neglected, unloved and uncared for.”

The boy longed for his parents to be with him and his siblings. He was looking for maternal love.

She said Halos wanted her to be his real mother as written in a card given him in several occasion.

Halos was the third of seven children. He was born out of wedlock and his father was his mother’s second husband.

His parents are separated. The family used to live in Punta Princesa, Cebu City.

When he was seven, he was left in the care of his grandmother in Barangay Maghanoy in Barili town. He was with his mother only during vacations.

In a separate interview, Esmeralda Halos, 41, the boy's mother blamed herself for the death of her son.

The boy will be buried tomorrow at the town cemetery.

Halos’s death was the third suicide in the family. An uncle killed himself at age 27 in 2000, and a 17-year-old cousin hanged himself in 2008.

source: Sun Star Cebu