Teen mom faces parricide raps, needs treatment

The 16-year-old unwed mother who killed her baby in Moalboal town is facing a charge of parricide even though she’s a minor.

The complaint was filed by the police with the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office last Oct. 3

The girl is  being treated for  for major depression after she stabbed dead her 18-month-old daughter then tried to kill herself last Sept. 30.

The teenager, a rape survivor, is being treated in the Vicente Sotto Medical Memoria Center for self-inflicted injuries.

It may not be easy for the 16-year-old girl to move on after the ordeal,  said psychiatrist Robert Cañete of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

Even  with medical and psychological treatment, she is still very vulnerable.

Suicide  or homicide attempts during depression can “appears spontaneously.

“She has to cope with her depression,” he said.

Relatives said the girl was raped by her uncle when she was in Manila.

“Before, the only stigma was the sexual  abuse by her uncle, but now the stigma is the killing of her own daughter,” said Cañete.

People who are depressed have “the feeling that they cannot solve their problem, that they helpless,” said Cañete.

The 16-year-old mother lived with relatives in  Metro Manila.

Her mother, a Cebuana who  works in Manila, went to Moalboal town, her father’s hometown in early September with her daughter.

The psychiatrist said the 16-year-old was  having a “major depressive disorder” but was not insane.

“When a person suffers severe depression, the ability to make rational judgement is impaired,” said Cañete.

Sometimes, the person shows   psychotic symptoms  like the belief that he or she hears strange voices “but that doesn’t make them schizophrenic.”

With proper treatment, which includes prescribing  anti-depressant drugs  in the early stages and and  psychotherapy or counseling in the later part, the patient can recover  within three to six months, he said.

Without treatment, it would take  one and a half years to recede and eventually disappear.

MOALBOAL POLICE

The parricide charges filed by the Moalboal Police was based on the affidavit-complaint of the girl’s  paternal grandmother and uncle.

The complaining elders asked for a preliminary investigation  and the filing of a case in court.

The prosecutor is weighing the peculiar circumstances of teh case, especially because it involves a minor.

Under the Juvenile Welfare Act (RA 9344), offenders  below 18 years old  are exempt from criminal liability.

However, those aged over 15 and 17 years old can still be charged if it is proved they acted with discernment, as certified by the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development.