‘Long and tiring’ process deters Ateneo harassment victims from filing cases

With fresh cases of sexual harassment rocking the Loyola Schools of Ateneo de Manila University, a report from the student council’s Commission on Anti-Sexual Misconduct and Violence (CASMV) revealed that around 31.6 percent of recorded cases of sexual misconduct on campus had yet to be decided.

The report, which covered the period between August 2017 and July 2019, also showed that only 28.9 percent of cases filed in the Office of Student Cases and pertinent committees had been resolved.

There were no official discipline cases filed with the school administration for 39.5 percent of the total cases reported to the CASMV.

The Sanggunian ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila said it had been working with the school administration through the CASMV “to give importance to the experience and wellbeing of survivors of sexual misconduct, and to provide safe spaces where they [could] be supported.”

But Sanggunian president Quiel Quiwa admitted that some students were afraid of filing formal complaints “because they [feared] that it [wouldn’t] really do much.”

“It was proven by the recent post circulating online about a case that took six months but only got resolved with a 15-day suspension for the harasser,” he said.

“It’s tiring and it’s a long process, then in the end the harassers won’t be given proper sanctions and you would still see them inside the campus. This is where fear stems from,” he added.

Students and teachers on Tuesday protested the rising number of sexual harassment cases involving professors.

Officials responded by saying that “measures [were] in place” to protect the school community from any form of sexual harassment, “at the same time guarantee that due process [was] followed, all parties [were] heard, and justice [was] served.”