‘Bullied’ student threatens classmate with knife

AFTER the quake scare hit a public high school in Toril District on Wednesday, panic hit another public school in the city yesterday.

At least 27 female Grade 7 students of Soledad R. Duterte National High School in Barangay Baliok, Talomo District reportedly suffered hyperventilation after a classmate, said to be a child in conflict with the law (CICL), reportedly threatened a female classmate with a knife.

The boy was identified as Ian, 16, said to have a robbery case in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley and was recently

released under the custody of a relative residing in Baliok.

The boy claimed his classmates, allegedly led by the girl he threatened, bullied him since he stepped in the school last month.

At 8:45 a.m. yesterday, Grade 7 class adviser Andrea Amor Gamorot was conducting a class at the second floor of the building with 160 students from two combined sections when she was called to attend some matters downstairs.

The teacher responded and left her class.

Ten minutes later, the teacher was called by her class officers after one of the classmates cried.

Based on the police investigation, Talomo Police Precinct Commander Major Ronald Lao said Ian threatened the girl, identified as Pam, with a six-inch knife.

Lao said the two students engaged in an argument a day earlier. Pam reportedly threw a notebook into Ian’s face.

Ian claimed Pam and another female student always bullied him.

He said he was always the subject of ridicule by his classmates, led by Pam, and he already felt “so embarrassed.”

The boy said he brought the knife for self defense as he was afraid that Pam’s male friends would physically harm him.

First responder Ryan Tanjay said they initially encountered six students who were crying and had difficulty in breathing. But they later learned that there were more than 20 others crying and experiencing the same breathing problem. This led them to call 911 for help.

All the 27 students attended by the 911 were properly released to their respective parents or guardians.

Social worker Joan Delos Reyes said Ian was charged in a robbery case in Nabunturan last year. After he stayed at the Nabunturan Bahay PagAsa, he released last month to a relative who resides in Barangay Baliok, Talomo District.

Authorities decided that Ian will have a home-based study and will be monitored by his adviser and the social worker while under the custody of his aunt.

The Baliok incident came a day after several students of Crossing Bayabas National High School (CBNHS) in Toril District were sent to the hospital after they collapsed while being evacuated during a quake.