Child abuse charges filed against teacher

Manila: Child abuse charges were filed on Wednesday before the Taguig prosecutors' office in Manila, against a school teacher who allegedly force fed her two pupils with pencil shavings.

Nine-year-old Grade 2 pupil Jastine Caraga was accompanied by her mother Adelina and a representative from the social welfare department when she lodged her complaint.

Caraga was among the two pupils of the Silangan Elementary School in Taguig who were forced by their teacher, Brenda Elbambuena, to eat pencil shavings on March 8 as punishment for behaving badly in school. The other student, Delmar "Madel" Redota, also nine years old, died on March 14, several days after the incident.

Doctors said Madel had died from what they described as "acute tonsillitis and pneumonia." Elbambuena, 45, had been charged with violation of the Anti-Child Abuse Law and is facing, at the very least, dismissal from service.

After receiving Caraga's sworn statement on Wednesday, prosecutors had subjected the grade-schooler to an inquest.

Caraga claimed she was the first pupil to be accosted by Elbambuena after they littered pencil shavings inside the classroom as they stayed after class to work as appointed cleaners for the day.

"She [Elbambuena] was angry, she cursed me. She also made me open my mouth and forced me to swallow the pencil shavings," Caraga told prosecutors.

Elbambuena allegedly made Madel undergo the same ordeal, but what made hers different from Caraga's was that the latter was able to spit out all of the pencil shavings while the former swallowed the wood and carbide splinters.

Madel's mother, Diana, had earlier rejected calls for an autopsy to be conducted on her child's remains. But last Wednesday she said that she had changed her mind about the issue.

Prosecutor Jaime Cubillo said that the autopsy would determine the true cause of Madel's death, and would also help them determine who is really liable for the death of the child.