Family of slapped Antipolo student won’t seek 2nd autopsy

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte visits the wake of Francis Jay Gumikib, the Grade 5 student who died 11 days after his teacher allegedly slapped him, in Antipolo city on Friday, October 6, 2023. | PHOTO: Rizal Police Provincial Office

MANILA, Philippines — The family of Francis Jay Gumikib, the Grade 5 student who died days after being slapped5th grader dies 11 days allegedly after teacher’s slap in Antipolo City by his teacher, will no longer subject their son to a second autopsy as he is finally laid to rest.

This was disclosed by Lt. Col. Maria Anna Lisa de la Cruz, chief medico-legal officer of the police forensic group’s Rizal provincial field unit, to reporters in Camp Crame on Friday.

De la Cruz said the family of the 14-year-old Gumikib initially planned to ask for another autopsy to be conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation, but changed their mind at the last minute.

Gumikib is set to be buried today.

“As of 5 p.m. yesterday (Thursday), the investigators told us that they are going to register the postmortem result on the death certificate, and there will be no re-autopsy already,” Dela Cruz said.

The Philippine National Police-Forensic Group, which conducted an autopsy on Gumikib on Oct. 4 said the student died of cerebral edema secondary to intra-cerebral hemorrhage (swelling and bleeding in the brain), consistent with ruptured arteriovenous malformation (a group of blood vessels that form incorrectly).

The police explained to Gumikib’s family that the slapping by his teacher on Sept. 21 had “no direct connection” to the death of their son on Oct. 2.

“It’s a normal reaction from the family that they reject [the autopsy result] and we cannot blame them for that. But for our part, we explained to them thoroughly how we arrived at our findings,” Dela Cruz said.

The family of Gumikib is still free to seek another opinion and even do an exhumation of the teen, “but we will stick to our findings that the death of Francis Jay was nontraumatic in nature,” the medico-legal officer said.

Lt. Col. Ryan Manongdo, officer in charge of the Antipolo police, said they were ready to file a criminal complaint against the teacher for child abuse but were still waiting for the decision of the student’s family when to file it.

“Right now, we don’t have any documentary evidence to file a homicide or physical injury complaint against the teacher. But we have statements from witnesses, which confirm that the slapping incident indeed happened,” he said.