Another teacher shot before studes

CEBU, Philippines - Eleven days after a public school teacher was shot before his horrified students in Argao, another teacher was gunned down in the company of two of his students while returning from a benefit dance yesterday dawn in Daanbantayan town.

The teacher, Adan Medrano, 28, is a resident of Bogo City and son of Bogo City police officer SPO4 Gibo Medrano. He taught Physical Education at the Daanbantayan National High School.

Daanbantayan police officer PO2 Ramil Claro said Medrano had attended a benefit dance during the fiesta of barangay Bagay, and was on the way home on a motorcycle with two of his students, whom police identified as Harry Pitogo and Jake Sanchez, when two men on another motorcycle overtook them and asked them to stop.

Stopped in the middle of the road, Medrano and one of the two men broke into a heated argument, although police did not make clear what the argument was all about.

As the argument escalated, the man Medrano was arguing with suddenly pulled out a gun and declared a holdup.

Trembling with fear, one of the students, Jake Sanchez, handed over the bag of Medrano to the gunman but Medrano grabbed it bag.

Angered by Medrano’s resistance, the man fired point blank at the teacher’s face, hitting him in the left eye.

The two men immediately sped off after Medrano crumpled lifeless to the ground.

From the empty shell police recovered at the scene, they determined that the gun used in the slaying had been a .45 caliber pistol.

Cebu provincial police director Senior Superintendent Erson Digal quickly theorized that the incident was purely a robbery to preempt any notion that it was in any way politically related.

The northern part of Cebu has been considered as among the potential hot spots in the province, with political tensions in Daanbantayan itself escalating following a Comelec decision to unseat the sitting mayor, Sun Shimura, in favor of Augusto Corro who it said was the real winner in the 2007 election.

Digal also instructed Chief Inspector Laurel Almirante to immediately apprehend the suspects.

Informed of the incident, the Department of Education in Cebu condemned the killing and expressed alarm that once again students have been physical witnesses to violence.

“We have not even finished debriefing our students in Argao, now other students have again seen one of their teachers murdered,” said Arden Monisit, the Cebu Division superintendent.

Last February 10, Romeo Duran, 52, was teaching his Grade VI class at the Binlod Elementary School in Argao when a man casually walked in and shot him dead. The assassin even had the temerity to say “good morning” to the class, and to which the class responded in kind.

Monisit said the deaths of the two teachers had not only been tragic and senseless losses that caused traumatic experiences for students, they also added to the shortage of teachers in the province.

“We teachers are the bearers of highest ethical standards. We are angered by these recent events where teachers are just senselessly murdered, by ruthless criminals right in front of their students.

He said the values that promote respect fo teachers appear to have vanished.

Meanwhile, Monisit advised teachers to be careful about accepting any invitations, especially for events that happen outside school hours. It was learned that Medrano was at the benefit dance late after having attended a beauty pageant to which he had been invited as one of the judges. — /JST (THE FREEMAN)