Teacher faces jail for hitting student

A TEACHER was sentenced to four to six years imprisonment for hitting a student who failed to answer a question in class over seven years ago.

Judge Maximo Perez of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 26 in Argao City sentenced Juanita Albiso for violating Republic Act 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Law.

Albiso’s then 12-year-old student complained that he was punched on the forehead by Albiso for failing to answer a question on the blackboard during their Math class on Sept. 14, 2004.

He said Albiso also pinched his right ear and verbally insulted him. The victim said Albiso also hit his classmate.

He said he hid behind a chair after the incident while the teacher didn’t ask for an apology.

When he went home, the victim told his mother and uncle about the incident. They went to the Argao police precinct to have the case blottered.

The incident was also brought to the attention of the barangay and the school principal.

Albiso, who used to be a grade four public school teacher of Lapay Elementary School, denied the accusations.

The court, however, found the evidence of the prosecution enough to convict Albiso.

Judge Perez said child abuse refers to the “maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child.”

Child abuse, he said, includes psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment.

Any act by deeds or words which debases, or demeans the worth and dignity of a child as a human being is also considered a form of child abuse, Judge Perez said.

The judge, however, did not award damages to the victim whose camp failed to justify the need to grant them monetary pay following the incident. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol