Public school teacher stabbed to death in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY— A public school teacher was stabbed to death in Pio Duran town in Albay province on Tuesday night, police said Wednesday.

Senior Inspector Joseph Abel Jarabejo, Pio Duran police chief, reported that Mylene Durante, 23, was killed at the Oringon Elementary School at around 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Jarabejo said the suspect could have entered the principal’s office where Durante and two Grade 6 pupils were sleeping.

The victim was allowed by the school administration to use the office as her quarters to help her save money since she was a resident of Polangui town, which is around 44 kilometers away from Pio Duran, Jarabejo said.

The two Grade 6 pupils, who were residents of the village, volunteered to sleep at the principal’s office to keep her company at night.

Police investigators found the victim’s body a few meters away from the door of the principal’s office.

The report said the victim sustained several fatal stab wounds while her two child companions also sustained minor wounds.

The students were taken to the Pio Duran Memorial District Hospital to receive treatment.

Barangay  Oringon, where the school is located,  is a remote upland village in Pio Duran. It is only accessible either by walking or through the “habal-habal” motorcycle.

By 10 a.m. on Wednesday, police operatives arrested a 17-year-old Grade 8 pupil as a “person on interest” in the killing of Durante. The pupil was reportedly studying at the nearby Binudigahan National High School.

He was arrested at the vicinity of the crime scene after  the two child witnesses identified him, said Senior Police Officer 1 Jigger Bas, case investigator of the Pio Duran police.

Bas said they are still trying to determine the motive behind the killing, but he disclosed that they are looking into the possibility that the suspect had attempted to rape the victim after police investigators found that the victim’s shorts was unzipped. /ee