Bulacan State U execs found guilty of neglect in 2014 field trip tragedy

CITY OF MALOLOS – The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed from government service the president of the Bulacan State University and eight other university officials and teachers after finding them guilty of gross neglect of duty for the deaths of seven students during a school field trip in San Miguel, Bulacan, last year.

Dismissed were Mariano de Jesus, BulSU president; Nicanor de la Rama, dean of student affairs; Nerisa Viola, dean of the College of Home Economics (CHE); Angelina Cinco, assistant dean of CHE; professors Mary Jane Lopez and Angelyn Dy Tioco; and instructors Leslie Garcia, Rossette Tanwangco and Reynita del Fonso.

The decision on the administrative case for grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty against the BulSU officials was approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on July 24. The decision was released on Aug. 7 but the lawyers of the students’ families received a copy only on Monday afternoon.
The Ombudsman also cancelled the BulSU officials’ eligibility, forfeited their retirement benefits, and disqualified them from holding public office and from taking the civil service examination.

The families of the seven students will observe their first death anniversary on Aug. 19.

The pictures of the late Helena Marcelo, Maiko Eleva Ison Bartolome, Mary Magdalene Navarro, Jeanette Rivera, Mikhail Alcantara, Sean Rodney Alejo and Michelle Anne Rose Bonzo were used in a Facebook page asking justice for their deaths.

The seven students died when a strong current swept them away while crossing the Madlum River on their way to the Madlum Cave. The trip was coordinated by a college organization.

The families pursued criminal and administrative charges in the Ombudsman against the BulSU officials. They also sued members and advisers of the Federation of Accelerating Students of Tourism (Fast), which organized the field trip; a travel agency which provided the bus; and three tour guides.

In their complaint, the families said the field trip ignored regulations set by the Commission on Higher Education as well as regulations imposed by a Bulacan provincial ordinance.