Separate Senate probe on alleged PHSA abuses sought

MANILA, Philippines— A separate probe on the alleged sexual, verbal, and emotional abuses at a government-run boarding school in Laguna has been sought in the Senate.

Senator Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution last Monday directing the Senate committee on women to look into the said allegations and possible violations of the Safe Spaces Act at the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA).

“It is imperative that the Senate, exercising its oversight powers, initiate a thorough but expeditious investigation on the matter to ensure that PHSA and other educational institutions are safe spaces, especially with the upcoming blended/face-to face-classes in August,” the resolution read.

It particularly cited a recent Vice World News report which exposed the abuses  allegedly committed by PHSA teachers, non-teaching staff and even co-students.

“Just this month, a PHSA student, who incidentally is still a minor, has formally filed a complaint against a PHSA non-teaching staff after being catcalled in November 2019 in campus – a clear violation of Sec. 11 of Republic Act No. 11313 or Safe Spaces Act,” the resolution further read.

However, it also noted a report that while there were already other complaints, they were allegedly “downplayed by the PHSA Administration, brushed off as hearsay and were not entertained for failing to comply with the ‘format required under existing Civil Service rules.’”

According to Hontiveros, schools are required to provide a gender-sensitive environment and confidential mechanism for the reporting and redress of grievances on matters of sexual and gender-based harassment as provided for in the Safe Spaces Act which she authored.

“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,” she then said in the resolution.

“Schools and educational institutions should be safe spaces for students, and more so schools such as PHSA where students live on campus 24/7 and are therefore more vulnerable to abusers, predators and groomers,” she stressed.

The senator also underscored the “urgent need to review the reporting protocols and the procedures of the Committee on Decorum and Investigation of the educational institutions tasked to investigate and address complaints of abuse and harassment.”

Her measure likewise seeks “to determine the lapses and to propose corresponding reforms to improve implementation of the Safe Spaces Act and other child protection policies.”

“Pangalawang tahanan ang turing sa mga paaralan kaya dapat ligtas at panatag tayong mga magulang kapag ipinagkakatiwala natin ang ating mga anak,” she said in a statement on Wednesday. “Educational and training institutions should be our children’s safe spaces. Walang puwang dito ang mga mapang-abuso,” Hontiveros added.

Acting on the request of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, the National Bureau of Investigation has formed a team to investigate the alleged abuses.

/MUF