CALAPAN CITY, Philippines--The Department of Education plans to send a medical team to a public high school in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, where 26 students have suffered from seizures attributed by some residents to "evil spirits."

Henry Tungol, principal of Pedro Panaligan Memorial National High School, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Sunday, that Education Secretary Jesli Lapus called him up during the weekend to inform him that a team, which might include a psychologist, would be sent to his school.

Since early August, classes have been disrupted due to the numerous episodes of students falling into seizures, said Tungol.

Located in the village of Comunal, 50 meters away from the highway, the school has a population of 692 students and has graduates who became scholars and honor students in college.

In past years, there were one or two cases of seizure reported but according to Tungol, these cases suddenly spiked in the last week of July and then surfaced again from Aug. 8 until Aug. 19.

On Friday morning, when classes resumed, five students fell into seizures, prompting administrators to suspend classes again, he said.

Tungol said they even invited local healers to the campus. The healers "offered" two black pigs to drive away the bad spirits.

Affected students pointed to evil spirits angered by the cutting of a 30- to 40-year-old tree at the backyard of the campus building.

"But that was three or four years ago," said Tungol, now on his sixth year as school head.

A Catholic mass was also conducted on campus by Fr. Ed Fabella, president of the Divine Word College of Calapan, upon the request of some students.

"Periodical exams were postponed on Aug. 14-15 but students didn't obey our advice to stay home until things return to normal," said Tungol.

One girl was said to have told her guardian that it was boring in the house. She was observed to be pensive and then, she had seizure attacks in the house, he said.

"I even saw a student with patches of pieces of an intermediate paper on the head and drops of candle wax on the feet after treatment by the faith healer," said the principal.

Tungol said the cases seemed all the more puzzling for the school community as the priest and local healers did not seem able to deal with the "spirits."

Due to the worsening cases of seizures, the school administration appealed for help from experts.

"We're open to whatever will be effective and will heal the students. We want our classes to return to normal as soon as possible," said Tungol.

The school is asking DepEd's help for the expenses incurred in the healing sessions with the paranormal healers, he added.