A 43-YEAR-OLD professor of the Cebu Normal University (CNU) was found dead in his home on M. Velez St., Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City.
As she came home from school, his daughter found Dr. John Munalim sitting on a toilet bowl, with a long gash in his neck, past noon yesterday.
Police have yet to declare if it was a homicide or a suicide. Crime scene investigators found bloodstains on the
lock and knob of the main door, and near the computer table. A razor blade was found at his feet.
John’s wife Thelma, who also works as a teacher, said her husband did not show any signs that he would
commit suicide, although he was anxious about his health.
SPO1 Jay Yballe, who led the homicide team, said the police found no signs of a forced entry or a struggle inside the house.
“All the things inside are in place,†he said, including the laptop, which was earlier reported to have been missing.
As to the bloodstains found at the main door and near the computer table, Yballe said samples were submitted
to the crime laboratory for analysis.
“We will have to wait for the autopsy result,†Yballe said, when asked if a homicide was suspected.
According to the information Yballe gathered from Thelma and daughter Kimberly, John was suffering
from diabetes and a heart ailment. He also had trouble sleeping.
Thelma, in an interview over radio DyAB, lamented that some neighbors ignored her complaint that
their gamecocks and chickens kept John awake at night.
Before she left home yesterday, Thelma said she and John even planned to go to the phone
company together to pay their Internet service bill.
She also asked why no one brought her husband to the hospital.
“Maayo pang mamatay sa hinay-hinay nga sakit kay sa kalit kaayo sa tanan (A slow death from an
illness would have been better than a sudden blow like this),†Thelma said.
John’s neighbors, who gathered near his house, expressed disbelief at the professor’s death.
They only had good words for him, describing him as a very kind neighbor.
Dr. Munalim, a native of Basilan Province, has been teaching at the CNU, since 2003.
He graduated from the University of Cebu with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in History.
He had a doctorate degree in Educational Management from Southwestern University.
At CNU, he taught social sciences subjects such as history and Rizal, said Eppie Lao, head of CNU’s Human Resources Department.
Dr. Munalim is survived by his wife Thelma, a teacher at Camp Lapu-Lapu National High School, and children Kimberley Kaye, 20, and Karl Bryan, 14.
He chaired the Behavioral and Political Science Department in 2008.
Before joining CNU, Munalim was employed at the Department of Education and taught at Busay National High School
from July 2001 to June 2003. He also worked as school administrator of Bonbon National High School and was a
classroom teacher at the Sto. Tomas School from 1988 to 1993.
His other assignments were in Paril, Binaliw, Camp Lapu-Lapu and in Sudlon. (With BAP)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 03, 2011.
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