(Eagle News) — The Palace on Friday, Dec. 21, urged Ateneo to act on the bullying incident involving an Ateneo de Manila Junior High School student and his companions, and which was caught in a now-viral video.
In a press conference, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that in the first place, there was a law against allowing bullying “inside the classroom, school.”
He was apparently referring to Republic Act 10627 or the Anti-Bullying Act, which requires all elementary and secondary schools to “adopt policies to prevent and address the acts of bullying in their institutions.”
The law says the policies should prohibit bullying on school grounds; at a “location, activity, function or program that is not school-related and through the use of technology or an electronic device that is not owned, leased or used by a school..”; and “retaliation against a person who reports bullying.”
According to Panelo, who said he was “bothered” by what he saw in the viral video, Ateneo “should investigate first why there was such a one-sided fight.”
“I think the school should investigate the incidents and do something about it,” he added.
Ateneo has launched an investigation into the incident, which saw the Ateneo Junior High School student verbally and physically assaulting another student in the school bathroom.
The same student was seen doing the same to other students in other videos that eventually surfaced online.
Ateneo president Ramon Villarin said the school “will not hesitate to impose penalties of dismissal or even expulsion in cases of grave misconduct.”
