Anti-bullying bill to be taken up on House floor

Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara. www.congress.gov.ph

After undergoing some revisions, a bill that would prohibit bullying in schools was approved by the committee on basic education and culture of the House of Representatives and submitted for plenary deliberations.

Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara said the problem of bullying, generally defined as physical and verbal abuse and other “acts that could be hurtful to the victim,” has reached alarming proportions in schools.

Although the bill does not penalize bullying with any specific penalties, it empowers and compels schools to establish mechanisms to address this problem.

Once approved, school superintendents must make sure their schools comply with antibullying policies or risk administrative sanctions from the secretary of education.

HB No. 5248 originally defined bullying to include the acts of  unwanted physical contact like “pushing, punching, shoving, kicking, slapping, tickling, headlocks, school pranks, teasing, fighting and the use of available objects as weapons, spreading malicious rumors, keeping the victim out of a group, getting certain people to gang up on the victim, ignoring the victim on purpose, whispering to another in front of someone, keeping secrets from a so-called friend,  eye rolling, silent but hurtful body motions such as pointing or any act that causes harassment or provocation, directing foul language at the victim, name calling, tormenting and commenting negatively on someone’s looks, clothes and body.”

However, Angara moved to strike out provisions such as “eye rolling” and “keeping secrets from a so-called friend” as a form of bullying to prevent Congress from becoming a “laughingstock.”

In Monday’s hearing, Angara said a more generic provision “anything that could be hurtful to the victim” would suffice, adding that there was no need to make the bill too detailed and restrictive.

The Angara amendment was immediately approved, paving the way for Committee Report No. 1408 on HB No. 5248 to be sent to the plenary for debates.

Angara said that a study by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, the Council for the Welfare of Children and Plan International showed that most students in the grade and high schools had experienced various forms of abuse from their peers or from their teachers.

It said that at least five of 10 children in grades 1-3, seven out of 10 in grades 4-6, and six out of 10 in high school had experienced some kind of violence in school.

Verbal abuse is said to be the most prevalent form of violence, and this includes being ridiculed and teased, shouted at and cursed, or spoken to with harsh words.

The same study revealed that children’s peers, more than the adults, are the perpetrators of violence in schools.