DepEd: Both bully and victim need counseling

Rose [not her real name] may be a consistent honor student at a school in Quezon City. Yet she has to endure the taunts of her classmates calling her rude names about her weight. 

 

She was called "baboy" or "botcha" by her classmates. During lunchtime, her classmate would even pig out on her food just to tease her for being fat.

"Botcha ang tawag nila sa akin. Kasi po mataba daw po ako," Rose said in a report by JP Soriano on GMA News' 24 Oras Thursday. [Botcha is a local term for contaminated meat of double-dead meat.]
 

"Pag kumakain ka minsan 'yung pagkain mo kukunin nila (na) parang binababoy nila," she added. 

Rose is a victim of bullying.

According to the Department of Education's (DepEd) Child Protection Policy, bullying is "an act or series of acts directed toward another student... which results in a physical and mental abuse, harassment, intimidation or humiliation."

Rosa's guidance counselor, Vilma Pajac, expressed her concern over the child's welfare.

 

"May mga bata talaga na natatakot silang magsabi sa mga magulang, natatakot magsabi sa teachers so sinasarili nila. Minsan hindi nakakaya ng mga bata (kaya) hindi niya alam ano ang gagawin," she said. 

 

 

Alberto Muyot, DepEd's undersecretary for legal and legislative affairs, said both the bully and victim need counseling. 

 

"Kailangan dito talaga, malaman ang problema at magkaroon ng intervention para 'dun sa bata at pamilya. Maaaring magsimula sa counseling sa bata at perhaps counseling sa pamilya," Muyot said in Soriano's report. 

 

The Education Department in its Child Protection Policy reminds parents to report to school authorities if their child is being bullied.

 

The victim and the bully will then have to go through counseling, DepEd said.

 

Meanwhile, when bullying continues even after counseling, the bully may be suspended for a week, according to DepEd's policy. 

 

A victim of bullies himself when he was young, Muyot assured parents and bullied children that they are not alone in the crusade against bullying.

 

"Maraming mga bata na dahil vulnerable sila, sila ang nata-target. Pero hindi kayo ang may kasalanan," he added. 

 

Parents may find more reason to fight against bullying, after the Senate passed a bill that seeks to curb bullying incidents in the country. A House version of the bill was passed last December.

 

“The heart of this measure is the education of parents on bullying and to familiarize them with the anti-bullying policies of the school. With that information, parents would have better choices which schools to send their children,” said Senator Edgardo Angara, one of the authors of the bill.

 

Meanwhile, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, also the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines president, welcomed the opening of classes by warning students against bullying just to be part of the “in” crowd, according to a dzBB report on Monday.