DepEd: 5 Cavite school teachers face admin charges for alleged sexual abuse
MANILA, Philippines – Five teachers of the Bacoor National High School (BNHS) who are being linked to the sexual abuse of students are now facing formal administrative charges, Department of Education (DepEd) spokesperson Michael Poa said Thursday.
This comes after several BNHS students and graduates of the school surfaced online and bared details of their alleged sexual abuse experiences at the hands of the said teachers.
“Natapos na po ang fact-finding, o ang preliminary investigation, diyan sa case natin sa Bacoor, Cavite. Ang update po namin diyan, out of the seven na mga teachers that were identified in the post, nag-issue na po tayo ng formal charge sa lima sa kanila,” said
(The fact-finding, or the preliminary investigation there in Bacoor, Cavite, has concluded. Our update is that out of the seven teachers identified in the post, we have issued formal charges against five of them).
According to DepEd, the accused teachers are now facing charges of Grave Misconduct, Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, and Violation of DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012, or the “DepEd Child Protection Policy.”
Poa added that the accused teachers were also placed on a 90-day preventive suspension.
READ: 6 Cavite teachers facing probe for ‘grooming’ minors
READ: Another teacher probed in abuse case
Two other teachers were also investigated. The two teachers were not charged due to lack of evidence, said Poa.
“Kulang pa po kasi ang ebidensya to identify yung dalawa pa, out of the seven. So kaya, lima lang po ang na-isyuhan ng formal charge. Ganunpaman, naghihikayat po tayo sa victims ng alleged sexual harassment na lumabas, para po makapagbigay ng kanilang affidavit, statement, o ebidensya, at para mabigyan po namin ng formal charge hindi lamang itong pito, kung hindi pati na rin yung iba na sinasabing nag-commit ng sexual harassment,” said Poa.
(We lacked evidence to identify the other two out of the seven. That is why only five teachers were issued formal charges. Despite this, we encourage victims of alleged sexual harassment to come out so that they can give an affidavit, statement, or evidence, as well as to give formal charges, not just to this seven but for others who may have committed sexual harassment).
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