MANILA, Philippines — Bullying the bully is wrong, a psychiatrist said, after videos of a junior high school student physically and verbally attacking his peers immediately went viral on social media and triggered blistering comments online and offline.
A student from the Ateneo Junior High School was seen in separate videos apparently bullying his peers—from making a boy say “Bobo ako (I am dumb)” to assaulting a schoolmate in a campus comfort room.
The shocking videos spread like wildfire on social media and ignited simmering outrage from netizens, some of whom even issued threats against the attacker and urged the school to seriously look into the incident.
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In a television interview with CNN Philippines, Dr. Camille Garcia, a psychiatrist, underscored that a tit-for-tat exchange won’t solve the problem of bullying and would just aggravate the situation.
Garcia also explained that bullies engage in “power plays” as a “compensatory behavior” because, oftentimes, these kids are not considered achievers in their families or have suffered chronic tormenting by their peers.
“It would be more difficult because instead of putting an end to bullying, we would have another victim who will likely suffer from depression and other risks,” Garcia said in Filipino.
“It’s not right to bully the boy because perhaps the reason why he did that is because he experienced severe bullying by his peers in the past,” she added.
Ateneo officials and a children’s rights group have called on the public not to share the video.
In a statement released on Thursday night, ADMU president Jose Ramon Villarin said the school administration was not treating the matter lightly.
“Let me be clear: the school does not condone such behavior. We have our codified standards of conduct and all students are made aware of these and their rights and responsibilities,” Villarin said. “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."
CHR: Protect minors' privacy
On Saturday, the Commission on Human Rights reminded the public to protect the right to privacy and confidentiality of the children involved in the Ateneo bullying incident.
"Bullying is not a simple issue that only the child victim and his family have to face. Intervention of school officials, especially if the bullying incident transpired in the school premises, is needed to adequately address and if possible, to eliminate the same," the CHR said.
"It is imperative that the right to privacy and confidentiality of all children involved must always be protected, not only by the school administrators, the parents, other parties concerned, the media, as well as users of social networks,” it added. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral