Principal: No hazing inside school

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Not true! The school principal vehemently denied allegations that a minor died allegedly because of the hazing rites that happened inside the campus.

Evelyn Casiano, principal of Abkasa National High School in Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City, insisted that no hazing incident that happened inside the school.

This, after 15-year-old John Kurt Inventor, third year student, died due to "septic shock secondary to pediatric or infection," according to his death certificate, on September 1.

Casiano, in a radio interview, said she is sure there are no fraternities or gangs in their school.

Casiano said she met with all the victim's classmates and teachers, and the Discipline Committee members of the school when she learned about his death.

The principal revealed that all of them had no idea what happened to the minor, as she stressed that the alleged hazing incident could not have happened inside their school.

Further, she said that the minor-victim was a transferee and had a different group of friends outside the school. She added that the minor had friends who hanged out in computer shops and are fond of playing computer games like Dota.

However, the victim's grandfather, Kenneth Inventor, believed that the 15-year-old died from injuries due to hazing. He said that they thought the minor only had a fever but when he vomited blood, they got alarmed and brought him to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, in Bacolod.

The minor, according to his attending physician, sustained bruises in both knees, cigarette burns on the feet, a fracture on the shoulder  and a wound in the buttocks that may have been stabbed by an ice pick.

The grandfather emphasized that it is very sad to lose the victim to a senseless death after taking care of him for 15 years.

The grandfather said that he took care of the victim when he was still one-year-old after his mother had to work in Kuwait.

The grandfather further said that the victim struggled to tell them something before he died and that he was only able to make a hand gesture. It looked like a fraternity hand sign, he added.

Meanwhile, the police are still probing the incident and are waiting for the results of the victim's autopsy.