In the thick recesses of Mount Makiling in Los Baños, Laguna, the Philippine High School for the Arts-- established in 1979 to hone the untapped artistic talents of young minds not more than 14 years old and graduating from grade school-- has produced successful albeit mentally disturbed graduates who recall traumatic experiences of alleged sexual abuse, passes and even verbal or physical assault from some of the teaching and non-teaching personnel.
Some who graduated managed to form a support group to reach out to those being abused so they can call attention to higher authorities in the hope of prompt and proper action on their complaint. Some alumni have voiced their complaints to school higher-ups, but these were readily dismissed as figment of “their imagination and creativity” with the school officials insisting that their people are morally and intellectually upright.
But recently, with the publication of a comprehensive report by US-based Vice World News writer JC Gotinga which was followed through by local giant network, GMA, Vice President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Zimmerman-Duterte immediately wrote the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate such abuses as she tasked DepEd’s child protection and rights in education units to open a separate investigation.
VP Duterte, also the country’s education secretary, had sent the NBI a letter requesting a “comprehensive report on the issue as soon as possible.”
Hontiveros calls for Senate probe
Re-elected Senator Risa Hontiveros, who authored a law protecting against sexual abuse in public places including schools early this July directed a Senate committee to open yet another separate investigation, which could see abuse survivors, school administrators, and concerned officials gathered in televised hearings with senators within weeks.
“If the accounts are accurate, the repeated failure of PHSA administration to address the violence and abuses is a blatant violation of the Safe Spaces Act and a flagrant disregard of the interests of PHSA students—interests they are duty-bound to protect and promote as persons reposed with special parental authority,” Hontiveros said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to the law she authored.
Faculty at the boarding school insist abuse survivors must file formal complaints to set off investigations, even as calls for justice grow louder, Vice World News stated.
Rampant abuse
Child rights advocates are urging the Philippine government to act on alleged rampant abuse at a state-run arts’ boarding school, even as the school’s administrators downplay the allegations.
“For years, reports on sexual abuse, harassment, and other forms of violence committed against students – who are mostly minors – of the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) have surfaced, yet no comprehensive and decisive action on the part of the government has been done to address the issue,” the Child Rights Network, a coalition of advocates that includes UNICEF and the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights, said in a statement recently.
“This slapdash approach is enabling the continuation of these horrid abuses, which recently gained worldwide attention when an in-depth feature article was published by VICE World News last June 28,” the group continued.
More than a dozen past and current PHSA students spoke to VICE World News about a “culture of abuse” at the school, which allegedly included molestation, sexual harassment, and verbal abuse by staff and other students. Survivors say school authorities either mishandled or dismissed their allegations without proper investigation, with many speaking of the trauma they’ve been left to grapple with even years after their time at the school.
Child Rights Network said it was “appalled” by the allegations and the “apparent lack of accountability” for the abuses, Gotinga reported.
‘Crimes of power’
“The reported crimes against children are crimes of power, with power relations between teachers and house parents in the boarding school tilted against their victims,” the group said. “In most reported cases, victims are robbed of immediate recourse, and carry the unreported trauma way into adulthood.”
In a separate statement dated July 5, but posted on the PHSA Facebook page the following day, the school said it was “unfortunate” to hear of the abuses endured by students.
“The PHSA Management sympathizes with our alumni who complained of past abuses,” the statement read adding that “a school representative has informed abuse survivors to file complaints with the proper forum,” and that they are “welcome to file their complaints with the school’s designated committees.”
These statements echoed what the school leadership told VICE World News during interviews for the investigative report—that the school would only act on complaints formally filed with its investigation committee. This is despite a law in the Philippines ordering schools to initiate probes as soon as they are made aware of abuse allegations.
In its latest statement, the school said:
“the sweeping generalization, as shown in the articles portraying the PHSA as [a] haven for abuse, is unfair,” and that its personnel were working to provide students with “a safe learning environment.”
The school did not address a demand by its students, outlined in a letter sent to the faculty in January that administrators promptly initiate investigations into abuse allegations. Neither did it mention whether disciplinary action was underway against school administrator Alvin Miclat, whom several students accused of abuse in a group complaint—one which the faculty earlier told VICE World News it was “looking into,” Gotinga reported.
‘Cracks in child protection policies’
The Child Rights Network said the allegations in the VICE report “reveal cracks in the way PHSA – and possibly other educational institutions – implement child protection policies,” and that the failure to stop the abuses “clearly show that such mechanisms are being perfunctorily implemented, or in worse cases, totally set aside.”
The school’s student-run publication also reissued the students’ demand letter and opened it to a public signature campaign to draw support, which solicited signatures from past and present students that reached 335, joined by 55 parents of PSHA students, while 360 individuals and 36 organizations from the general public have also signed.
PHSA reviews school policies
Meanwhile, PHSA told the education department it is examining “current and prior information on the matter.” Both the DepEd and PHSA are “reviewing the school’s existing policies and strengthening internal mechanisms” to ensure the safety of students, it continued.
The timing of these investigations is crucial—PHSA students are set to return to campus in August after over two years of online learning because of the pandemic and students have ramped up calls for the school to guarantee their safety.
Ensure safety on campus
The students have for months been demanding that the faculty ensure their safety on campus and take action on multiple allegations of sexual abuse committed by teachers and other staff members on students. However, the faculty has had a history of dismissing abuse complaints as hearsay and has even promoted an alleged abuser to a higher staff position.
The investigation found that the faculty’s dismissiveness and insistence on stringent bureaucratic procedures in filing abuse complaints have discouraged survivors from coming forward when the faculty could by law initiate action as soon as it hears of a suspected threat or incident of abuse.
Child rights advocates have been urging Duterte to look into the alleged abuses at PHSA. The NGO coalition Child Rights Network on July 6 called on the government to enforce laws protecting children, and to
“stop the practice of coddling reported abusers and sexual offenders, as this culture of violent treatment of PHSA students reveals how byzantine and feudal relations between mentors and mentees has become.”