Woman abused by own teacher says #HijaAko helped her come forward, clear her name

A woman who was sexually abused and blamed for it has thanked the #HijaAko movement for giving her the strength to come forward and clear her name.

In the latest episode of “Quarantined with Howie Severino,” Juliana Talde revealed that in 2017, her Grade 8 teacher sexually harassed her.

“It happened in my boarding house kasi before po nag-i-stay ako sa boarding house. We stayed in different rooms but in the same place po. Then one night, he went to my room and he sexually harassed me,” Juliana shared.

Juliana mustered the courage to tell what happened to her parents, who immediately went to her school to file a complaint.

The school gave the teacher an option to resign, but it also asked Juliana to leave.

Juliana said she accepted the proposition because she also wanted to start anew.

“Back then, the mere voice, the mere picture of him, the mere voice, the mere thought of hearing his name, it makes me tremble, it makes me traumatized,” she said.

“It makes me scared na kahit makakita lang ako ng kahubog ng katawan niya, natatakot na ako, umiiyak na ako. Kasi sobra siyang nakakatakot. ’Yung parang sobrang hanggang ngayon siguro na nandu’n pa rin sa akin ’yung takot na baka isang araw maulit siya ulit, kaya I personally think that I also needed to leave at that time po.”

Juliana also noted that although she was the one who was assaulted and traumatized, people around her doubted her and blamed her for what happened.

“I told my parents about it, I told the school about it and they took action but the thing is, kahit naman po nag-take sila ng action, hindi po lahat kasi ng tao open sa usapin ng harassment, ng sexual harassment. Kaya po du’n po umusbong ’yung mga victim blaming, na kesyo baka binigyan ko ng motibo, na baka ginusto ko naman po ’yung nangyari,” she said.

She said she was hurt that many people assumed she had a relationship with the teacher and that she reported the harassment because they were caught.

“'Yun po kasi ‘yung lumabas sa ibang tao kaya ang nangyari po parang hindi na lumabas ’yung ako ’yung na-harass,” she said.

“Ang lumabas na I took an innocent man’s job, I took someone great from the institution. ’Yun po ang kumalat na para bang kasalanan ko kung bakit nawala ’yung paboritong guro ng lahat, why a good teacher left his job because of me, but little do these people know that, that man harassed me. Kasi po ang kumalat na ginusto ko naman po, na okay lang naman ’yun kasi may relasyon naman daw kami, which is not true. I don’t have any relationship with him. In fact, I treated him as my own father.”

When she found the #HijaAko hashtag, Juliana saw it as a safe space for survivors and as a chance to clear her name.

“The #HijaAko movement po for me is very empowering siya. Hindi po kasi siya simpleng hashtag lang na nag-trend sa Twitter. Para po sa akin isa po siyang gateway para ma-let go ko na ’yung heavy burden ko,” she said.

“Hindi nila alam kung ano ’yung pinagdaanan ko talaga kaya ’yun po ’yung isa sa mga pinakamalaking tulong sa akin ng #HijaAko. It helped me clear my name out and tell my story that I’m the victim here. People must know the real story behind everything before they judge,” she added.

“Kaya nga po ’yung ginawa ko ’yung thread, a lot of people messaged me from my old school saying sorry. They apologized to me because all this time, ang alam po nila umalis si Sir dahil nahuli kaming may relasyon.”

Stop victim-blaming

Juliana urged the public to stop blaming the victims for the very assault that no one would want for themselves.

“We are the victims of this harassment pero at the end of the day, kami pa ’yung nasisisi sa mga nangyari,” she said.

Juliana called for people to change their mindsets, that women were raped not because of what they wore but because of rapists themselves.

“It’s sexual harassment if you don’t consent to it. Ipaalam sa mga tao na hindi kasalanan ’to ng mga biktima, na kasalanan ito ng mga taong gumagawa nito, i-stop na natin ’yung victim blaming. Dapat nandu’n tayo para sumuporta sa mga taong naha-harass, nahihirapan. Hindi ’yung gagatong pa tayo sa pain na nararamdaman nila,” she said.

“Hindi dapat tayo ang nagbubuhos pa ng sakit sa kanila, na dapat tayo ang tumutulong sa kanila. We should not blame people for the experiences they had. Instead, we must empower them. We must make them realize that they’re not alone in this fight.” – RC, GMA News