Bullying incident to be decided ‘soonest’ — ADMU

FILE: Two Junior High students of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) were caught fighting inside a restroom in the campus. (Screengrab from a video uploaded by RE Rogue/Facebook)

The Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) said it will decide the “soonest” on the viral bullying incident involving its junior high school students.

In his official statement released on Friday, December 21, ADMU President Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin SJ said the Ateneo Junior High School Committee on Discipline had already “met and heard” both parties involved during the ongoing administrative investigation of the incident.

“The case shall be decided soonest, and this decision shared with the community,” Villarin noted.

The ADMU president earlier stressed that the school “does not condone such behavior” and that their students were aware of their codified standards of conduct as well as their rights and responsibilities.

“The school is not silent on its stand on violence and it will not hesitate to impose the penalty of dismissal or even expulsion in cases of grave misconduct,” he said.

The video, that surfaced online on Thursday, shows a male student challenging his schoolmate to engage in a fight inside a comfort room in the campus.

Student 1 was forcing Student 2 to choose between to be beaten or lose his dignity by kissing Student 1’s shoes and private part.

After Student 2 chose to be beaten, the two students were later on seen fighting in the video that led Student 2 to have a bloodied nose.

[READ: Ateneo conducts probe on viral fighting video of its junior high students]

The parents of the student who was mauled by his fellow student already reported the bullying incident to the police.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra urged ADMU officials and the parents of the students involved in the incident to address the issue within the parameters of school policy and regulations as they were dealing with adolescent children “lacking in maturity and discernment.

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Several lawmakers also asked the public to stop picking on the student who was caught in the video punching and kicking his schoolmate.