MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a lookout bulletin order against 16 officials of the British School Manila involved in a case filed by Trixie Madamba, mother of BSM student Liam Madamba who took his life in 2015. 

In a 4-page letter addressed to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the National Prosecution Service, Acting Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas said the public prosecutor handling Madamba’s case endorsed the issuance of an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order against the following:

• Simon Mann
• Trevor Lewis
• Brendan Egan
• Martyn Turner
• Bill Twedell
• Simon Bewley/Simon Bewlay
• Etein Melsbo/Stein Melsbo
• Bart Edes
• Paul Ingram
• Alison Doig Henderson
• Andrew Logan
• Alan Hearn
• Anne Haslam
• David Gold
• Angel Guerrero
• Catherine Tantoco-Daniels

The order was issued “considering the abovementioned individuals are the subject of an ongoing investigation, and there is a strong possibility that they may attempt to place themselves beyond the reach of the legal processes of this Department by leaving the country,” Caparas wrote.

Caparas urged the BI to instruct all its immigration officers to be alert and on the lookout for the BSM officials “should they pass through the immigration counters in any of our international ports and/or seaports.”

He also urged Prosecutor General Claro Arellano to “expedite the resolution of the case.” (READ: BSM execs ‘continue to stonewall’ almost a year after student’s death)

“If it should be found that there is probable cause to criminally charge the said respondents in court, [the Prosecutor General should] immediately file the case/s, and obtain a warrant for their arrest.”

In October 2015, Madamba filed a complaint before the DOJ against the BSM officials for obstruction of justice under Presidential Decree 1829.

The case was already submitted for resolution in April, according to Joseph Noel Estrada, legal counsel of the Madamba family.

Liam, a scholar at BSM, jumped from the 6th floor of the Dela Rosa carpark building in Legazpi Village in Makati City on February 6, 2015.

A day before, he and another student met one of their teachers, Natalie Mann, who asked the students to write a letter of reflection for supposedly plagiarizing a paragraph in a first-draft essay.

According to a report from an Independent Review Panel, the students saw the reflection process as a punishment, while a separate report from the Senate committee on education, arts, and culture said the teacher “caused Liam mental anguish or emotional suffering.”

During the Senate hearings on the issue, the school at least admitted it saw a “connection” between how Liam was dealt with at school, and his untimely death.

The Senate report also found it “alarming how BSM handled the aftermath of Liam’s death.” (READ: Plagiarism on BSM students’ draft essays unlikely – educators)

The school is also facing a P100-million civil case before the Taguig City Regional Trial Court, and a separate administrative complaint before the Department of Education. – Rappler.com