To press the government to address the perennial issue of abusive teachers and school authorities prying on young victims, sexually abused students on Wednesday, Sept. 7, have spoken up and launched a campaign against campus predators.
A youth group, composed of sexual abuse victims and advocates of gender equality, held a press conference at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to launch their campaign to stamp out campus predators.
Enough Is Enough (EIE), an organization formed by victims from Bacoor National High School (BNHS), Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA), and Far Eastern University Senior High School among others, called on the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to “decisively address” the widespread cases of sexual abuse and harassment in educational institutions.
“Despite the public outrage of students from prominent schools and universities in the past, the procedures and protocols in place have failed to stamp out predators from our schools,” said EIE lead convenor Sophia Beatriz Reyes. “We remain unprotected and disempowered,” she added.
Reyes, who is also the current president of the PHSA student government, said that also alleged that “predators were simply made to resign by school administrators and transferred to other schools where other more vulnerable students may also fall victim.”
EIE noted that the non-attainment of justice lies in the present procedures --- including the DepEd’s Child Protection Policy and Safe Spaces law.
“They are not simply inconsistently implemented or practiced in schools, public and private but also intrinsically flawed, since it is not victim friendly on top of the social stigma they too will have to struggle with,” the group said.
For EIE, all predators should be charged with administrative and criminal cases and their professional licenses should be revoked by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
Moreover, EIE said that the predators should be blacklisted to “prevent them from victimizing more students.” The group is also pushing for the establishment of a national registry of sex offenders.
Accompanied by their legal counsel lawyer Aaron Pedrosa, the victim-survivors also shared their experiences during the launch of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) decried the handling of sexual abuse cases in many prominent private schools where after filing a complaint, the university officials simply advised the perpetrators to resign.
“With educational institutions more interested in preserving their reputations than their students’ welfare, it is no wonder why thousands of victimized students still live with trauma to this day,” Patricia Racca of SPARK explained.
Since the surfacing of abuse and harassment cases in BNHS, SPARK said it has received reports from 11 more schools from Metro Manila to Pampanga to Agusan del Norte.
Most of the victims, SPARK said, were junior and senior high school students from public schools. Only two cases were reported in private Catholic schools. While another incident was tallied at a national science high school.
Victim-survivors were encouraged to reach out by signing up at www.punishpredators.sparkkabataan.org
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