Palace calls probe on bullying incident in viral video

FILE: Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Secretary Salvador S. Panelo holds a press briefing for the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) at the New Executive Building (NEB) in Malacañang. (Photo: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson/Facebook)

MANILA — Bothered by viral videos of an Ateneo de Manila University junior high students bullying fellow students, Malacañang said on Friday the school should investigate the incident and “do something about it”.

“I watched that. I was bothered by what I saw,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said when asked for comment during a Palace media briefing.

“I think the school should investigate the incident and do something about it. You cannot be allowing bullying inside the classroom and school — besides there is a law against that,” he added.

Panelo, also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, was referring to Republic Act 10627 or Anti-Bullying Act of 2013, which provides that “any school administration, student, parent or volunteer shall immediately report any instance of bullying”.

The law added that the secretary of Department of Education “shall prescribe the appropriate administrative sanctions on school administrators who shall fail to comply with the requirements under this Act. In addition thereto, erring private schools shall likewise suffer the penalty of suspension of their permits to operate”.

The viral videos showed a much smaller student, reportedly a taekwondo practitioner, verbally and physically attacking another student.

“I think they should investigate, first, why there was such a one-sided fight, given the fact that the one who mauled was much smaller.Nagulat nga ako iyon pala ano siya, magaling sa taekwondo (I was surprised that he is good in taekwondo),” Panelo said.

According to media reports, the Ateneo administration would not hesitate to kick out students involved in the incident if found guilty. (PNA)