MANILA, Philippines – A family undeservedly dragged into the Ateneo Junior High School (AJHS) bullying controversy has appealed to the public to stop sharing their address as they are not in any way connected to the incident.
Jewel Taculod said her family home has been deluged with food and retail deliveries since their address was carelessly introduced by a still unidentified netizen as the residence of the student caught on video bullying another student in a school comfort room.
Due to the amount of stress they experienced because of this, Taculod said they plan to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to track the person responsible for this mess and file a complaint. She said they have initially reported the matter to their village office.
“We do not know him or his family. We don’t have connections to him,” Taculod said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.
“Ni hindi ko nga shineshare sa facebook yung mga viral videos niya kasi I’m not that type of person na nakikichismis sa mga viral,” she added, citing that the first time she heard the name of the student was when the issue broke out on social media.
Since Friday afternoon, Taculod said, food from different fast food have been delivered to their address – around P10,000-worth of pizza, chicken, spaghetti, hamburgers, etc.
Taculod said her family only signed a copy of the delivery orders but did not pay for it.
“Earlier that day, nagulat kami sa Facebook kasi address namin yung kumakalat. Nung una, hindi kami masyado nagw-worry. Tapos nung hapon na nagka-delivery dun na kami nagulat,” she recalled.
Aside from food, Taculod said gadgets from an online retail shop amounting to P54,000 were also ordered under their address. Luckily, they intercepted the delivery and eventually canceled the order.
“This morning (Sunday), my Tita has a delivery of her own order from Lazada. Buti na lang ‘yung nagde-deliver kilala na ‘yung Tita ko na lagi nag-o-order,” she said.
“I talked to the woman. Sabi ko: Ate, is there any delivery dito sa address namin na nakapangalan [doon sa Ateneo student]? Sabi niya: ‘Yes ma’am meron, worth 37k and 17k.”
“Nagp-please kami na ‘Ate, please block the order or cancel. We didn’t order that’,” she added.
Now, her family is feeling unsafe that their address was divulged to the public without their consent, Taculod stressed.
She called on the public to be more discerning and responsible on social media.
“Let us be quick to hear and understand but be slow to speak. Always think first of what you’re gonna spread online, do a research if its a fact or not para lahat tayo peaceful,” she pointed out.
A video of an AJHS student bullying a fellow student went viral last week. In the video, the kid was seen kicking and punching another kid in the comfort room.
Ateneo has already ordered the dismissal of the boy after a “thorough investigation” of the case.
READ: Ateneo kicks out bully student after ‘thorough investigation’
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