DepEd chief visits student who stabbed teacher to death

GMANews.TV - Sunday, September 19

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No less than the highest official of the Department of Education (DepEd) personally visited a high school student, who has admitted to killing his teacher with a knife, to offer advice to the minor.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said he visited the suspect, a second-year student of the Manuel Luis Quezon High School in Caloocan City, to check out the teenager's state of mind after the killing of his teacher Teodora Soner.

Police said Soner was stabbed in the back by the 14-year-old student on Friday along Ascorville Road in front of the public school, after she threatened to kick him out of school for refusing to cut his long hair. (See: High school student stabs teacher to death)

Investigators earlier found out that the suspect was a member of a fraternity, despite the school supposedly implementing a strict prohibition on fraternities.

But Luistro, a La Sallian brother, appealed to the public not to prejudge the student, especially since the authorities have yet to complete their probe on the incident.

"Mayroong panahon para imbestigahan para malaman kung ano talaga ang nangyari. Sa akin, bilang teacher ang unang-una kong gagawin ay malaman kung ano ang nasa isip niya," said the former president of the De La Salle University.

(There’s time to investigate, to establish what really happened. For me, as a teacher, the first thing I’ll do is to get to know what was in his mind.)

Luistro appealed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to step into the issue and ensure that his rights as an underage criminal suspect are not violated.

"Sana matulungan din sya ng DSWD. Ang concern ko lang kung less than 18 siya sana hindi siya kasama sa kulungan ng matatanda," he said.

(I hope the DSWD helps him too. My only concern is that if he’s younger than 18, he ought not to be jailed together with adult prisoners.)

Luistro also stressed that getting overly strict with children usually does no good in disciplining them, and appealed for understanding from adults.

"Ang pagbabawal, hindi iyan ang pinakamagandang paraan ng paghubog sa kanila. Pagpapaliwanang ang mas maganda," he said. (Prohibition is not the best way to shape their values. Persuasion is the better way.)

This page requires a higher version browser From the 30-minute conversation, Luistro said that the suspect confessed to him that it was his first time in his life to commit a crime.

Soner, a 32-year-old teacher who hails from Marilao, Bulacan, was rushed to the Tala Hospital after the incident, but was declared dead on arrival.

Luistro, also on Saturday, took time to visit Soner's funeral to extend his condolences. The victim's sister, Mary Ann Soner, expressed her family's grief over the death of Teodora, who she described as a "very kind person."

Financial help for Soner's family has yet to pour in, according to the QTV Balitanghali report.—Mark D. Merueñas/JV, GMANews.TV

Source: GMA 7, Yahoo News Phil.

Sheriff's search for 13 members of LA-area 'cult'

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AP – This undated photo provided by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Saturday Sept 18, 2010 shows Reyna …

By THOMAS WATKINS and ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press writers –1 hr 29 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Five adults and eight children from a "cult-like" group in Southern California were reported missing by their families Saturday, and the group left behind letters that they were awaiting "the Rapture or some other catastrophic event," a sheriff's official said.

Husbands of two group members, who are all El Salvadoran immigrants from the Palmdale area in northern Los Angeles County, reported the people missing early Saturday, and sheriff's deputies were searching for three vehicles, said Captain Mike Parker.

One of the men had a purse he was asked to hold and pray over by one of the group members, and inside were cell phones, identifications, deeds to property, and letters indicating they were awaiting the end of the world.

"Essentially, the letters say they are all going to heaven to meet Jesus and their deceased relatives," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmoresaid. "Some of the letters were saying goodbye to their (living) relatives."

Whitmore said the major crimes unit, helicopter patrols and many other deputies were looking for missing people.

The group's leader, Reyna Marisol Chicas of Palmdale, 32, was among the missing, Parker said.

The children ranged in age from 3 to 17, authorities said. The adults included the 18-year-old child of one of the members and three sisters, Parker said.

The group had been members of a mainstream Christian church. Family members expressed fears to investigators that they had been "brainwashed," Parker said.

Parker did not know what church they had belonged to previously, and it does not appear that they had given their break-off group a name.

"We've got a group here that's practicing some orthodox and some unorthodox Christianity," Parker said. "Obviously this falls under the unorthodox."

Authorities are searching for three vehicles: a silver Toyota Tundra pickup, a 1995 Mercury Villager and a 2004 white Nissan.

Parker said the materials the group left behind suggested they would be in the Antelope Valley area near their homes.

About six months ago, the group had planned to head to Vasquez Rocks, a wilderness area near Palmdale, to await a catastrophic earthquake or similar event, but one member of the group revealed details of the trip to family members and it was called off.

"That person was ostracized from the group and kicked out," Parker said.

According to an emergency bulletin put out by the governor's office, in addition to Chicas, the missing include: Norma Isela Serrano, 31, Alma Alicia Miranda Pleitez, 28; Martha Clavel, 39; Jose Clavel, 15; Crystal Clavel, 3; Roberto Tejada, 18; Jonathan Tejada, 17; Hugo Tejada, 3; Ezequel Chicas, 15; Genisis Chicas, 12; Bryan Rivera, 17; Stephanie Serrano, 12.