BACOLOD CITY, Philippines -- Another minor reportedly hanged himself with a nylon rope in Escalante City on Tuesday making him the second child to commit suicide in two days in Negros Occidental, police said Thursday.

The latest victim was identified by the police as James Masellones, 14, a first year high school student.

Chief Inspector Santiago Rapiz, Escalante police chief, said on Thursday, Masellones hanged himself at the house of his uncle, Roger Masellones, in the village Washington, Escalante City.

Initial police investigations showed that the victim was scolded and later whipped by his grandmother for playing with the cellphone of his younger brother and destroying it.

Rapiz, the Escalante police chief, said the victim went to the house of his uncle, locked himself inside and hanged himself.

He added that the boy might have also banged his head on the wall, as there were signs of hematoma on his head.

The suicide in Escalante took place as the Cadiz City police was ordered by Senior Superintendent Rosendo Franco, provincial police director, to dig deeper into the reported suicide of eight-year-old Joey Valencia on Monday afternoon.

Valencia, who was celebrating his eighth birthday on that day, allegedly hanged himself some 30 minutes after his mother, who had refused to let him leave their house to see his bird trap, scolded and hit him with his school-issued flashcards.

The investigation into Valencia's alleged suicide might not get anywhere as the father refused to cooperate with the police and was apparently not interested in pursuing the case, said Chief Inspector Jefferson Descallar, Cadiz police chief.

The police were investigating the boy's alleged suicide at his home in Hacienda Sta. Cruz, in the village Banquerohan, Cadiz City, because of inconsistencies in his mother's statements, Descallar said.

The mother, Emee Valencia, 30, said the boy hanged himself with a belt in their kitchen on his birthday, after she had scolded him. However, the police noted that the marks on his neck appeared to be that of a rope.

The height from which the child was supposed to be hanging would have enabled him to put his feet on a ledge in the kitchen, Descallar also said.

The mother vehemently denied killing her son.

Descallar said they were not saying she did it, but they wanted to determine how he really died.

However, the father of the boy, construction worker Lino Valencia, refused to cooperate with police investigators on Thursday. He admitted he had his doubts about how his son died but did not want to cause any more trouble, Descallar added.

The police, so far, had no eye witnesses and no evidence for crime lab testing to determine if foul play was committed or not, he said.

"We are still studying if an autopsy can be conducted on the boy without the consent of the father," he said.