“[RUMORS] ARE spread by people who do not know,” said Jose Eduardo Calasanz, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. “There’s a normal human need to explain things so when they do not have the explanation, they tend to create answers.”

This was his response to the rumors that spread in the University about a body that was discovered inside the Philosophy Department at the Dela Costa Hall last June 30.

Jose Lorenzo Tan (BS ME ’06), a teaching assistant, was discovered dead in an unused office at the department. He committed suicide by containing himself inside a smoke-filled room sometime during the previous night.

Smoke

Philosophy Department Instructor Roy Allan Tolentino was the first person to know about the incident.

Tolentino arrived 6:00 am at the department last June 30. Security guards informed him when he arrived that a person stayed overnight at one of the offices.

The guards knocked all night but the person did not come out, said Tolentino. “May kutob na yung guwardya na may nangyari (The guard already had an inkling that something happened),” he said.

Security guards are under strict instructions not to enter department offices, said Calasanz.

Accompanied by a guard, Tolentino approached the room where Tan was, and he found that the door knob felt hot.

They found Tan in a cubicle, slumped over a chair. After feeling for a pulse, the guards alerted the central security office at once. Administrators were also called.

The Dela Costa Hall, said Tolentino, is not equipped with a smoke detector, and thus, was not able to detect the fumes from the room where Tan committed suicide. Since the Dela Costa Hall is an old building, it only needs to meet the minimum requirements for infrastructures.

Twisted facts

Contrary to earlier reports, this was Tan’s first, not third, time to commit suicide, according to Calasanz and Tolentino.

Vice President Ma. Assunta Cuyegkeng, Ph.D also clarified that there had been no attempts to burn down the department. She added that Tan had been very considerate, because there were no flammable or easily combustible materials in the room.

“There were no papers… [There was] hardly anything [in the office] except several chairs and a table,” she said.

Cuyegkeng added that there was nothing around the room, not even a suicide note. There were also no signs of foul play.

She also said that the inconspicuous black van which students saw bringing the body out of the Ateneo was owned by Funeraria Paz.

Cuyegkeng said that the administration kept the incident circumspect as respect for Tan and his family.

“We wanted to give dignity to Lorenz and the family,” she said.

“What Lorenz did was something serious. We have to respect the secrecy surrounding it. Respect the family,” said Calasanz. “[People] should not make the event a location for spectacle and voyeurism.”

A brilliant mind

“We feel very saddened about the whole event because Lorenz [had] been a very, very brilliant student and teaching assistant,” said Cuyegkeng. “He loved his work; he had a very brilliant mind.”

Tolentino, who was one of Tan’s former teachers, said Tan was a thoughtful, kind, and very intelligent student.

Tolentino added that Tan loved philosophizing. “Masaya siyang nag-aaral ng pilosopiya (He was happy studying philosophy).”