TACLOBAN CITY – Police here were deeply looking into the death of a public school teacher, who was found hanging at the back of the classroom where she was teaching over the weekend.

Among the angles being looked into was rape since the teacher was naked when found by her sister about 2:45 p.m. Sunday. Police said the teacher’s sister went to the school after she could not contact the victim since Saturday night.

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But Antonio de la Cruz, head of the security personnel of the Leyte National High School (LNHS), said investigators also did not discount the possibility that the teacher committed suicide since they did not find any sign of struggle in the crime scene.

“The victim was said to be depressed due to some personal problems that could have led to her (committing) suicide,” De la Cruz claimed.

He also said they learned that a land owned by the victim’s family in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte, had been pawned for P300,000.

“Apparently, the family was only given until August of this year to redeem their property. Apparently, that property was pawned to pay for her studies, among others,” De la Cruz said.

The victim was a technology and livelihood education teacher at the LNHS, the biggest secondary school in Eastern Visayas with more than 9,000 enrolled students.

On Monday, her co-teachers offered a prayer on the spot where she was found – at the back of her classroom, located at a hilly portion of the sprawling campus.

Based on the footage of the school’s closed circuit television camera, the teacher arrived at LNHS around 5:28 p.m. Saturday, wearing a shirt and in shorts.

“We were shocked that this thing happened to her. But for the last few days, she appeared to be sad and haggard but when we asked how she was feeling, she would tell us she was okay,” said a co-teacher, who asked not to be named.

A student of the victim confirmed that his teacher had been sick for several days.

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“She was confined in a hospital last week. She was always coughing. But she was good to us,” the student said. /kga

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