The National Bureau of Investigation has arrested a couple who own a private school in San Mateo, Rizal province, in connection with the death of a high school student during a school-sanctioned camping activity in 2003.
The 16-year-old victim was blindfolded and made to walk until he hit a pointed tree branch that wounded his chest and eventually killed him, according to the complaint.
Lawyer Romy Lim of the NBI Criminal Intelligence Division on Tuesday announced the arrest of Charlie and Eugenia Crescini, residents of Tandang Sora, Quezon City, and owners of Heavenward Christian School.
Lim said the couple were arrested in a house in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, over the weekend on the warrants issued in 2005 by San Mateo, Rizal, Judge Josephine Zarate-Fernandez.
Five other respondents—four teachers and a former student—remain at large. Lim identified the teachers as Elizabeth Belen, David Calpe, Clarinda Calpe and Norberto Bondoc and the student as Marxlennin Belen, reportedly Elizabeth’s son.
They were charged with violation of the antihazing law over the death of Bien Francis Selva, then a high school senior at Heavenward.
In a resolution issued in 2004, then Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Mariam G. Bien recommended the filing of criminal charges against the Crescinis and the others.
“Selva was subjected to physical suffering when he slammed into the end of a tree stump while being led blindfolded by the accused (Marxlennin Belen), and as a consequence the victim sustained traumatic chest injury which directly caused his death,” Bien said.
The incident happened on Oct. 29, 2003, during a three-day camping activity held at Gethsemane Prayer Mountain in Rodriguez town, also in Rizal.
In an Inquirer interview, Wilfredo Selva, father of the victim and an employee of the Department of Agrarian Reform, said the school eventually closed down after the owners went into hiding following the incident.