Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio has ordered an investigation into allegations that six teachers in Bacoor National High School in Cavite sexually harassed students.
“The allegations of sexual harassment in Bacoor National High School is very disturbing news and we are taking this very seriously. The DepEd, under the leadership of Vice President and Secretary Sara Duterte, has zero-tolerannce for any form of abuse,” DepEd spokesman Michael Poa said in a text message.
“The investigation is being handled by our Regional Office, in coordination with the Schools Division Office. It is the DepEd regional director that has disciplinary jurisdiction over teaching staff,” he added.
Poa said the six teachers have been placed on “floating status.”
“There is no estimate yet as to how many students are involved or have complained. We are encouraging students to come forward,” the DepEd official added.
On Twitter, a thread that has since gone viral included screenshots of alleged Facebook Messenger exchanges between one of the teachers and his student, with the latter making inappropriate grooming comments with heavy sexual innuendo.
Twitter user @eexpresso_o shared the screenshots, some as old as 2014. The user said the post was originally uploaded on Facebook but got deleted.
The thread gained almost 20,000 retweets and over 30,000 reactions. One screenshot of the supposed conversation showed a student being asked if he has had experiences with a gay person, and if he would like to “try” it.
On Twitter, Bacoor City Mayor Lani Mercado-Revilla advised victims to file a formal complaint.
“This has been reported to the DepEd Regional Office and at present ongoing investigation. The teachers involved are no longer holding classes. We will be monitoring this issue. Best if the victims/ students file formal complaints to Bacoor Schools Division Superintendent,” she said in a Twitter post.
