Last July 25, OpinYon ran an article on graduates and current students of the Philippine High School for the Arts in Laguna, who have been reporting about sexual harassment that many of them underwent in the hands of teachers, but which were shot down by the school. One of the offenders was made to quit. (https://opinyon.net/national/traumatized-budding-artists). PHSA is now subject of an ongoing inquiry by the Senate committee on Basic Education.
Other schools with reported sexual abuse are the Bacoor National High School in Cavite and St. Theresa’s College in Quezon City, along with PSHA in Los Baños are covered by a resolution (to investigate) filed by Senator Risa Hontiveros, a staunch advocate of children and women’s rights.
Students from several other schools and higher educational institutions have taken to social media to seek redress from the hands of abusive teachers/ professors and the apparent indifference by the school officials to resolve them.
Because of this, the Commission on Higher Education said on Friday that it would push for more information dissemination and strengthened institutions—to make students aware of what constitutes sexual abuse.
This, following the Senate panel on women, children, family relations, and gender equality's scheduling formal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment raised by students against teachers and staff of various schools.
CHED executive director Cindy Jaro said they would be launching "educational resources pertaining to ethics" that include modules on sexual harassment. “Our intention is to integrate the topic to be taught in our programs under ethics in our general education course,” she told Star.
CHED requires its accredited higher education institutions (HEIs) to create formal bodies to hear and handle cases of sexual harassment on campus, which must be institutionalized for the protection of students.
#DoBetter
Pre-pandemic, several students of high schools and universities demanded their schools to investigate allegations of sexual abuse as the hashtag #DoBetter went viral on social media.
And just days into the re-opening of face-to-face classes, the Department of Education said it was investigating six Cavite teachers for allegations of sexually harassing their own students.
"It is possible that students still have that thinking. They might still be processing it and thinking that their professors are just helping them, maybe they're just being caring. They need to know when it's wrong," Jaro said.
Advocates against sexual abuse say it's very telling that students feel the need to come up with their stories on social media instead of formal mechanisms.
Time's Up Ateneo, one of the groups formed in the wake of the #MeToo protests to push back against harassers in the academe says that until our systems decide they can be more humane, survivors of sexual harassment in schools will still face pushback from the institutions that are supposed to protect them, said Martina Herras of Time’s Up Ateneo.
"I think it just means that the systems have failed the students they claim to protect. When victims look for alternatives for their justice, especially when the institution tries to block them from coming out, it just means that the protocols they had in place to handle these cases were not enough."
Safe spaces
Jaro also reminded higher education institutions that under the Safe Spaces Act, school heads are held liable in cases where reported sexual harassment complaints are not acted upon.
UP Professor Teresa Paula de Luna of the Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment highlighted the importance of having safe spaces for victims of sexual abuse to come forward.
"If you don't have in place rules and regulations then it's really difficult to get the trust of students, and students will be hesitant to come forward."
Jail them
At the Senate Committee on Basic Education's first organizational meeting last week, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the solution to ending the longstanding culture of sexual abuse is putting predator professors behind bars.
"It didn’t just happen overnight. It’s a culture, meaning it’s been happening for a very, very long time, and it produced a generation of abused students, so it means that it’s not only one student or two," he said.
"We cannot just leave it open and just being investigated, then the culture will not break. The only way we can break the culture is someone will be responsible, and someone will be put in jail if need be."
Senator Risa Hontiveros said
“sexual harassment cases brought up to educational institutions’ notice must be resolved in a transparent, pro-active, and timely manner in order to ensure the swift delivery of justice.”