NBI to probe abuses at Makiling high school
MANILA, Philippines — Following a request from Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, the National Bureau of Investigation has formed a special team to look into alleged abuse cases reported at the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) at Mt. Makiling in Los Baños, Laguna.
“We will immediately investigate this,” Medardo de Lemos, the NBI officer in charge, told reporters on Tuesday.
“I have given an order to form a special team [of investigators] and to act with dispatch,” he said, adding that the team was directed to submit a report on the matter within seven days.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla also assured Duterte that his department would provide assistance in addressing the matter.
The alleged cases of sexual, verbal, and physical abuse were first reported last month by online news site Vice Media, which quoted some PHSA alumni.
Molested, harassed
Vice Media talked to former and current students and faculty members, with one claiming he was molested by both a senior student and a teacher while another said a current employee has been harassing female students for years.
The story quoted a “well-placed source” who said the school for artistically-gifted students had “consistently downplayed and ignored numerous allegations.”
In a statement, the Department of Education (DepEd) said Duterte had requested the NBI to give a comprehensive report on the matter “as soon as possible.”
“Vice President Sara Duterte immediately wrote the NBI and requested them to do a thorough and comprehensive investigation of what had happened, or the alleged happenings of sexual and physical abuse at the PHSA,” Education Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III also said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“All our regional directors have been made aware of this and most probably, they will be issuing certain directives down the line to ensure that such happenings will not happen in the schools they are governing within the region,” Densing added.
‘A haven for abuse’
The DepEd at the same time encouraged those concerned to submit complaints about alleged abuses at the PHSA to the school’s committee on decorum and investigation for proper action.
Earlier, administrators of the public high school said it was unfair to portray the PHSA as a “haven for abuse.”
“PHSA, just like any other institution, is not perfect. But please be assured all our school personnel are working hand-in-hand toward providing our students a safe learning environment, whether online or in Makiling,” they said in a statement.
Child rights advocates, meanwhile, pointed out that while all schools have mechanisms for reporting protocols and sanctions, the “repeated failure” of PHSA to end the cycle of violence “clearly shows that such mechanisms are being perfunctorily implemented, or in worse cases, totally set aside.”
“Such blatant disregard for child protection policies contribute to the proliferation of institutional child abuse, that we sadly believe remains prevalent even in educational institutions,” the Child Rights Network (CRN) said in a statement, adding that schools should be safe spaces and not be places where abuse and harassment thrive.
“No renowned artist can and should hide under the shadow of artistic pursuits to justify sexual abuse, harassment, and toxic treatment of their students,” CRN added.
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