WHILE other children would simply run to an adult and cry over the loss a school book, a 13-year-old girl from Lapu-Lapu City found this reason enough to end her life this week.
The girl, a grade 7 student of a public school in Lapu-Lapu City and a resident of Barangay Gun-ob, was found dead by her mother at around 1 p.m. last Friday. The girl was found hanging from a wooden beam with a rope tied around her neck.
An investigation conducted by PO3 Luisito Ernie of PNP Lapu-Lapu City Homicide Section revealed that based on the accounts of the girl’s parents, the girl had been depressed in the past few days after she failed to have her school clearance signed because she lost one of her school books.
The clearance which lacked only one signature would have allowed the grader to claim her report card for the next enrollment.
Police found no suicide note but believe that the girl killed herself as they found no indication of foul play.
The parents are also convinced that their daughter had committed suicide because she had lost a school book.
A 2003-2004 survey on Filipino students conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute and Demographic Research and Development Foundation noted that 42 percent of the students surveyed had felt sad or hopeless for two weeks or more during that period with 17.1 percent of those surveyed seriously considering suicide.
According to the report, it was likely that youth suicide rates were underreported due to the stigma attached to mental health issues.
In countries like the Philippines, many do not seek help for depression as it is still not viewed as an illness by many who believe that those suffering from depression can one day just snap out of it, the report said.
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