UST responds to viral post on student bullied by UST office

The University of Santo Tomas on Tuesday responded to the viral Facebook post, after its Student Welfare and Development Board (SWDB) drew flak on social media site for supposedly “victim-blaming” one of its students.

“The University of Santo Tomas knows that it stands in loco parentis over the students and it has the duty to safeguard the students’ health and well-being. It has adopted measures as may be reasonably necessary to discharge such duty in order to protect its students from unfair or false accusation,” UST said in a statement.

“We have investigated the administrative case involving the sister of Mr. Geo Celestino but unfortunately, the facts and evidence that Mr. Geo Celestino posted in his Facebook account do not conform to the records on file,” it added.

Geo Celestino on January 29 narrated on Facebook how UST’s SWDB wrongly accused his sister, Yssa Celestino, of “falsely accusing another student of wrongdoing.”

Geo’s post has reached over 31K shares, and 65K likes and reacts since its date of posting.

The younger Celestino, a third year College of Fine Arts and Design student, was allegedly molested sexually by a fifth year UST Engineering student on a public transport vehicle.

According to Geo, the incident happened one night in June 2016, Yssa fell asleep inside a UV Express on her way home when she felt a hand up her legs. When asked why she did not stop the man molesting her, she said she was not sure if anyone would believe her. She then repositioned her leg, but the molester did not stop.

“And then she said she felt him again touch her leg. Now there were a million other choices that she could’ve made at that time, but what my sister did was take a picture of this molester,” Geo Celestino said in his post.

Yssa posted the photo on Twitter, urging fellow students to take care when commuting. The UST SWDB summoned and questioned Yssa’s intentions for posting the photo, who was recognized as the university’s fifth engineering student, after it went viral. It also ordered her to remove the post.

“Her well-meaning gesture was being questioned, and the case I mentioned at the start of this prose was filed against her. The process dragged on, and my sister who was already enduring the tough demands of CFAD to be a good student, just wanted to get things over with,” he said.

He added that Yssa’s explanation fell on deaf ears. The hearing dragged on until Yssa was asked to apologize to the graduating student.

Their parents received a “Notice of Resolution” on January 27 to affix their signatures, signifying they accept the hearing’s result.

In a report by the Varsitarian, UST’s school publication, secretary to the SWDB director Angelica Guazon stressed that the board followed standard operating procedures during the investigation.

Acts of sexual harrasment are punishable under RA 7877 or The Anti-Sexual Harrasment Act of 1995, and the provisions of the Revised Penal Code on Acts of Lasciviousness. RA 7877 penalizes sexual harassment with a fine ranging from P10K – P20K or imprisonment of 1 to 6 months, or both.