Teen mom facing parricide still vulnerable

The teenage mother charged with parricide for allegedly killing her 18-month-old baby is still in a delicate psychological condition.

“When I visited the 16-year-old mother at the hospital, we were told by the doctors not to talk about negative things in front of the girl,” Loida Makiling of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7 told Cebu Daily News.

Makiling said the girl managed to answer her questions but was obviously traumatized by what happened.

“I only asked her how does she feel. If she gets to sleep and eat well. She responded to my questions but you can really see in her face that she is tired and had lots of things in her mind,” she said.

The girl confided to the social worker how she had difficulty in sleeping.

“She knows that her baby died. She was even looking for a newspaper but was told by doctors and her grandmother who was looking after her that it is not allowed,” Makiling added.

Despite the filing of the parricide case against her before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors Office last Oct. 3, police haven’t been allowed to talk to the teenage mother who is recovering in the Pink Room of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

The government hospital wants to secure first her recovery before she is allowed to face authorities for possible criminal liability.

The social worker also visited the residence of the girl where the stabbing incident occurred last week.

“It was very far from the town proper. I do not recommend that the girl be sent back there after being discharged from the hospital,” Makiling said.

The municipal social worker who has the responsibility of evaluating whether she acted with discernment when she allegedly killed her baby daughter still has to make a discernment assessment.

Moalboal police filed with the CPPO the parricide case last Oct. 3, based on the sworn statements of the teenage mother’s paternal grandmother and uncle.

“Being a child in conflict with the law (CICL), the local social worker will have to determine through an examination whether the incident was with active with discernment or without discernment,” Makiling added.

“But definitely we will assist the child in conflict with the law (CICL),” the social worker assured.

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

However, those aged over 15 and below 18 years old can still be charged if it is proved they acted with discernment, as certified by the DSWD.