MANILA, Philippines — Five out of the seven teachers in Cavite who were accused of sexual harassment are now facing formal administrative charges, the Department of Education said Thursday.
In a briefing, DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said five teachers from Bacoor National High School who allegedly made sexual advances on students were also placed under a 90-day preventive suspension.
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He added the charges were administrative in nature.
"The question is: bakit lima lang out of seven? Nung nakausap natin ang Schools Division Office at ‘yung legal department, kulang pa po kasi ‘yung ebidensya to identify ‘yung dalawa out of the seven. Kaya lima lang po ang na-issue-han ng formal charge," Poa said.
(The question is: why only five out of seven teachers? When we talked to the Schools Division Office and the legal department, there was not enough evidence to identify the two. That’s why only five were issued formal charges.)
Last week, screenshots of conversations showing the teachers’ advances on their students made rounds on social media.
DepEd stressed it has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of abuses in schools.
"We don’t want sexual predators in our schools," Poa said.
The agency urged the public to report incidents of abuse through depedabusereport@gmail.com. — Gaea Katreena Cabico