Content warning: This article contains discussions of sexual harassment and predatory behavior. 

Robert* still vividly recalls up to this day the trauma he endured as a student and victim-survivor of sexual harassment at Bacoor National High School (BNHS). Despite mustering the courage to expose the predatory behaviors of faculty members, justice and accountability remain elusive for Robert and others at BNHS. 

In 2022, Robert posted screenshots of conversations on Facebook exposing former physical education teacher Nelson Feranil for reportedly harassing a student at BNHS. Faculty members accused Robert of besmirching his teacher’s honor and charged him with four counts of cyber libel. Feranil filed the complaint last year. Robert was arrested on April 5 and was detained for a week before being released on bail.

With educational institutions failing to protect their students from sexual harassment, legislators must prioritize amending laws that compel school administrators to take more decisive action against campus predators nationwide. 

Unsafe Classrooms

Since students are expected to follow authority figures in school, speaking out against a teacher comes with repercussions. This persists despite educational institutions' supposed compliance with the Safe Spaces Act (SSA).

Students struggle to report sexual harassment cases due to predatory behaviors being normalized and overlooked by schools, said Robert. Administrators dismissed their complaints and said they were just overthinking. Instead of swiftly taking action, school officials failed to conduct immediate investigations and provide psychological support. 

The SSA indicates the standards schools must uphold once a case of gender-based abuse is made known to school administrators. While the SSA mandates high schools to have a committee on decorum and investigation, many institutions fail to probe sexual harassment cases, as seen in BNHS—the case only progressed once the issue was exposed online.

Proven campus predators are also not monitored in criminal records, said Ligon. With minimal repercussions and insufficient mechanisms for proper investigations, perpetrators have little to fear when violating the SSA.

Five years since the SSA’s implementation, sexual harassment on campus remains a rampant issue. In 2022, around 70 complaints of sexual and verbal abuse in schools were recorded by the Department of Education through its Telesafe Contact Center Helpline, a national hotline created for child protection complaints. 

However, EIE disagrees that these records accurately cover the frequency of cases happening across high school campuses. There is no telling how many school administrators remain unexposed because these hotlines depend on the victims' willingness to share their stories. 

Due to patterns of inaction, students like Robert resort to online posting to shed light on their stories. But there is still much uncertainty about the outcome should they post on social media. Without stronger sanctions against predators, the SSA fails to impose definitive measures to preclude perpetrators from committing the same offenses in other spaces. 

No Refuge

The mishandling of sexual harassment cases is an issue extending beyond educational environments. Victim-survivors often struggle to seek justice in workplaces and even in online spaces. 

Much like in schools, most sexual harassment cases in the workplace are unreported, with 47 percent of women and 60 percent of men fearful of repercussions, believing that speaking out would not yield positive outcomes, according to a study by Lloyd’s Register Foundation and pollster Gallup in 2023. 

Gender-based violence is also a persistent issue online in the country. From January to June of 2023, 56 online gender-based violence cases were recorded by the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA). The most common forms of online gender-based violence include nonconsensual production or dissemination of intimate photos and videos and blackmailing.

The SSA provides instructions on where to report gender-based online harassment, but still fails to guarantee that justice is given to the victim-survivors who speak up, said Reyes. Filing cases may also become harder when charged against perpetrators in higher positions of power than the victim. 

“Pasimpleng hawak sa dibdib tapos nagpapa-picture [si Feranil] sa akin minsan, tas i-po-post niya sa Facebook without my consent,” Robert recalled. The same report by FMA revealed that 53.1 percent of victim-survivors of online gender-based violence are below the age of 18 years old, highlighting the alarming vulnerability of minors like Robert who fall victim to such abuse.

Safer Spaces for All 

School administrators, much like the government, bear a significant responsibility in eradicating campus predators. It is imperative that they collectively stand at the forefront of providing legal action to protect victim-survivors from their perpetrators and ensure safer spaces for all their constituents. 

EIE has been continuously forwarding a position paper to legislators with five demands for amendments to SSA, including the imposition of criminal charges against predators and enablers and the revocation of their teaching license. It is also pushing schools to provide psychological, financial, and legal support for victim-survivors and implement nonretaliatory policies to protect students. 

Robert points out that if school administrators had a proper way of handling sexual harassment cases on campus, then there would be no need for victim-survivors to resort to posting their experiences online.

“Wala akong regrets kasi kung hindi siya na-expose, walang victims na mag-e-expose sa kanila. Kung hindi ko yun ginawa, magiging kultura pa rin yun sa school,” said Robert. 

While there is still much to be done to expunge such cultures within schools, solace is felt through victim-survivors finding the courage to share their stories. Only through collective efforts to expose such crimes can people hold perpetrators accountable and pressure the state to implement more robust policies to ensure no other individual becomes a victim. ● 

*Not his real name. Robert has asked the Collegian to conceal his identity due to the sensitive nature of this article.