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A P100-million damage suit was filed Friday by the mother of the British School Manila (BSM) student who committed suicide reportedly after being humiliated by his teacher over a “plagiarized” essay.
Trixie Madamba, accompanied by husband Jose Ma. Rafael and lawyers Joseph Noel Estrada and Terese Ray Anne Aquino, sued the Taguig City-based international school for the death of her 18-year-old son Liam, who jumped to his death from the sixth floor of a parking building in Makati City on Feb. 6.
“We are filing the civil case for justice, in order to achieve some measure of peace and closure,” Madamba told reporters. “The school has remained quite arrogant. They have not once reached out. They have not tried to apologize. We simply want them to come forward and apologize.”
According to Madamba, Natalie Mann, the teacher who allegedly humiliated her son before he committed suicide, has left the country and is now teaching in the United Kingdom.
The Inquirer tried to get BSM’s comment but was told by a receptionist that the headmaster was in a meeting. The school official has yet to return the call at press time.
“(It) is a civil case for damages, for negligence that led to Liam ending his life,” Estrada said, referring to the 41-page document filed in the Taguig Regional Trial Court.
According to a statement issued by Aquino, the school was being sued through its council of trustees composed of Wick Veloso, Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar, Nigel Boud and Sebastian Quinones; its board of governors and committee in charge of operations composed of Simon Bewlay, Brendan Egan, Stein Melsbo, Bart Edés, Paul Ingram, Alison Doig Henderson, Alan Hearn, Anne Haslam, Josephine Melrose, Claire Carr, Diana Guild and Richard Kho; and headmaster Simon Mann.
“The BSM executives and Mr. Mann are being sued for their… unlawful and wrongful acts that caused the loss of Liam’s life and violated his rights and the rights of the Madamba family under the new Civil Code of the Philippines, (Batas Pambansa No.) 232 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the statement said.
The complaint invoked Civil Code provisions on the rights of persons to be treated with dignity and protected from humiliation, it said.
BP No. 232, meanwhile, is also known as the Act Providing for the Establishment and Maintenance of an Integrated System of Education.
Estrada said the civil case asked for P424,000 in actual damages; P80,000,000 to account for Liam’s “loss of earning capacity”; P5,000,000 in moral damages; P10,000,000 in exemplary damages; and P5,000,000 in attorney’s fees and litigation expenses.
He said the family had also filed against BSM an administrative complaint in the Department of Education for alleged violation of the agency’s child protection policies, and a complaint for obstruction of justice in the Department of Justice. TVJ
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