DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 20 October) – Amid condemnations of the shooting incident and calls for prayers and justice, Ivan Polinar Almeda, the 20-year old freshman who was shot at the commercial center of the Mindanao State University main campus in Marawi City Thursday night is still in coma as of Sunday afternoon, the President of the Mindanao State University (MSU) System said.
No suspect has been arrested or identified.
MSU President Habib Macaayong told MindaNews Sunday that investigation is “continuous” but “wala pa suspect” (no suspect has been identified).
Macaayong said Almeda, who hails from Bayugan in Agusan del Sur, remains at the intensive care unit of the Amai Pakpak Medical Center, still in coma.
Almeda is a freshman at the College of Sports, Physical Education and Recretation (CSPEAR) at the MSU and a badminton varsity player.
CSPEAR Dean Hendely Adlawan told MindaNews Sunday that Almeda was still “fighting to survive.”
She said doctors informed them the bullet entered the left occipital and exited “right frontal part.”
“Hope there is God’s miracle. Life support / respirator and medicines continue,” Adlawan said on Saturday, as she asked for prayers.
The still unidentified gunman shot Almeda from behind at around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Almeda’s mother, Genevieve, an elementary school teacher, arrived early Friday morning in Iligan, accompanied by a neighbor. Macaayong had them brought to the APMC in Marawi immediately.
Macaayong also assured Genevieve that the university would attend to the hospital expenses as well as other needs she may incur in Marawi.
University officials as well as students and alumni, also sent some donations to Genevieve, for her son, Ivan, the eldest of two children. (Carolyn O. Arguillas /MindaNews)