‘Kwatro o kwarto’: Teacher nabbed for student sex abuse

A ranking official of a school in Mandaluyong City was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Thursday on allegations that he performed sexual acts on a teenage student who was forced to endure them to get a passing grade.

The NBI on Friday disclosed the arrest of Faustino Ticman Jr., 47, academic director of St. John Bosco Institute of Arts & Sciences, a school based on Shaw Boulevard.

“This is a classic case of kwatro o kwarto,” said the NBI officer on case, Normando Anire, kwatro referring to a failing grade of “4” and kwarto (Filipino for “room”) referring to the classroom where sexual favors are given in exchange for passing grades.

Anire said the complainant, a 17-year-old college freshman in the institute and a Mandaluyong resident, went to the NBI on April 10 accompanied by his mother to report the alleged abuses. The student’s sworn statement was taken at the bureau’s antifraud division.

“He appeared to have been traumatized by what happened and was shaking during the interview,” Anire said.

According to Anire, the student approached Ticman, his management teacher, on April 3 to ask if he could still do a project to make up for his weeklong absence in Ticman’s class.

But instead of giving him a chance through a project, the teacher allegedly asked the student if he would agree to “what I’ll ask you to do” in exchange for a passing mark.

When the student said yes, Ticman asked him to massage his hands and back. “After a few minutes, the suspect stood up and locked the door of the classroom and brought the victim to a corner of the room and sexually abused him,” the NBI agent said.

Ticman, a resident of Summerville Subdivision, Antipolo City, was arrested in Old Sta. Mesa, Manila, on the night of April 10, a few hours after the alleged abuses were reported to the NBI.

He underwent inquest proceedings Friday for committing acts of lasciviousness, said head agent Cesar Bacani of the NBI antifraud division.