Cyberbullying pushes 12-year-old Fil-Am to commit suicide

Gabrielle Molina, a 12-year-old Filipino-American from Queens Village in New York, killed herself  in her room after allegedly being cyberbullied by her classmates.

Molina hanged herself and left a letter detailing the bullying she experienced, a report of GMA Network's "State of the Nation" (SONA) said on Friday.

The police have secured Molina's two computers containing information about the alleged cyberbullying.

Molina's mother Glenda said that one of her daughter's classmates uploaded a video on YouTube where Molina was shown arguing with another classmate.

She said their family complained about the video but it wasn't taken down immediately.




According to a report of Daily Mail Online on Friday, Molina "was also teased after a sickening video entitled 'Gabby's Fight' appeared on YouTube, friends said. It showed the girl, who was barely 5ft tall, being beaten up by a former friend."

Her father George Molina said "the school failed to address the incident quickly enough and the footage was not immediately removed from the internet," the report added.

Daily Mail said Molina experienced "relentless online bullying was branded a slut and told she looked like she had Downs Syndrome."

A smart student

Glenda described her daughter as a smart student.

However, a psychiartrist said parents could not tell if their children are having problems just from their grades and school performance.

“Hindi dahil laging okay ang grade sa school ay wala na siyang ibang problema,” Dr. Paz Zabala told SONA's Lala Roque during an interview.

Zabala said teenagers these days tend to cover up their problems.

“Halimbawa, na dedepress siya parang pwede niya pagtakpan 'yun sa family,” she said.

Some symptoms that show teens have problems are if they can't sleep or they're staring into space.

“Ngayon na nagcocomputer [na sila] mas challenging na yung paghandle nang mga bata. Pag dating nang mga anak mo pwede mo [sila tanungin] 'o ano kamusta sa school?'” Zabala advised.

“Meron kasing bata na tahimik lalo na pag binu-bully parang ayaw nga nilang malaman sa bahay,” she added.

Meanwhile, Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Tonisto Umali said they have countermeasures against cyberbullying which is now a growing problem.

“DepEd order number 40, Series of 2012, 'yun 'yung tinatawag na nating Child protection policy ng ating kagawaran para po maproteksyonan ang ating mga anak sa lahat po ng uri ng pang-aabuso at kasama na po diyan ang cyberbullying,” Umali explained. - Andrei Medina, VVP, GMA News