Thumbs up in group chat may have led to cadet's 'punishment,' says Calamba police

Posting a thumbs up emoji instead of a formal answer in a group chat may have led to the punishment imposed on cadet Vince Andrew Delos Reyes, who died on Wednesday after being punished by a senior cadet with exercise at a maritime academy in Calamba, Laguna.

According to a "24 Oras" report by Jun Veneracion on Wednesday, investigations revealed that the senior may have found offense when he sent a thumbs-up to the chat and punished him for an alleged violation only 30 minutes after their ‘evening chow’ on Monday.

“’Yung pag thumbs up maybe hindi nagustuhan ng senior class, thumbs up instead of answering ng formal na okay,” said Calamba Police Officer-In-Charge Police Lieutenant Colonel Titoy Cuden.

(Sending of the thumbs up may not have been liked by the senior class, thumbs-up instead of sending a formal okay)

“According sa investigation, si victim was ordered to perform [a] series of exercises. Una is squat thrust for 100 repetitions, then yung pumping another 100 repetitions, then yung last kung saan siya nag collapse yung star jump,” he added.

(According to the investigation, the victim was ordered to perform a series of exercises. First is squat thrust for 100 repetitions, then another 100 repetitions of pumping, then the last one was the star jump where he collapsed.)

The students in the cabin with the victim during the punishment also stated that there was no body contact that occurred, but police are still waiting on the autopsy report.

“Nakita natin doon sa investigation na hindi intensyon ng suspek na patayin yung victim. Sa tingin namin hindi naman na haze yung bata, but titingnan pa rin yung report ng medico-legal,” Cuden said.

(We saw in the investigation that the suspect didn’t intend to kill the victim. We think he wasn’t hazed, but we’ll still look into the medico-legal report)

However, the victim’s mother - Anna Delos Reyes - was not convinced that foul play was not involved in Vince Andrew’s death.

“Hindi ako maniwala kung exercise lang. [Papaanong] exercise [ang] ikamamatay, kung nakita niyo itsura ng anak ko sa video ko, sa picture ko... Kung exercise lang... Saan ang [sinabing] iingatan? ‘Wag mag-alala mga magulang at mga anak ninyo dito iingatan’?” said Anna.

(I don’t believe it was just exercise. [How come he would] die from exercise, if you see him in my videos, in my pictures… If it was just exercise… Where was the care [you promised]? ‘Parents should not worry because we will take care of your children here’?)

NYK-TDG Maritime Academy has said that they were willing to cooperate with the local authorities and conduct a full review of their policies and codes of conduct to avoid similar instances in the future. — Jiselle Anne Casucian/BAP, GMA Integrated News