College instructor sacked over 'triggering' remarks about self-harm

Trigger warning: Suicide

MANILA, Philippines — A faculty member from a university in Cebu has been dismissed after an audio recording of him encouraging students to engage in self-harm went viral on social media.

University of Cebu Chancellor Candice Gotianuy announced in a Facebook post that the instructor in question "is no longer connected" with the university.

The mother of the instructor, who also taught at the university, has also "followed suit," Gotianuy said.

"The Faculty is in full agreement that his actions are absolutely unacceptable," she said.

Thirty psychiatrists, psychologists and guidance counselors will be deployed to the University of Cebu this week to provide their services to the academic community, Gotianuy said.

"The Legal team will reach out to the individuals concerned to document their experience. We are putting this incident on record," she added.

“By letting him go and asking the students to see a counselor, we are rebuilding our safe place,” the University of Cebu official added.

This comes after Gotianuy announced over the weekend that the instructor, whose identity has not been disclosed, was placed on preventive suspension and banned from entering campus over his harmful remarks.

The university chancellor said that the university "does not condone any act of self-harm or the encouragement of such."

"I am disgusted by the actions of this person- I cannot even call him a teacher," Gotianuy said in her post on March 16.

The university chancellor also acknowledged that the viral audio recording of the instructor -- where he was heard telling students that he would welcome suicidal acts from them -- is "triggering, especially as there has been a rise in mental health awareness post-pandemic."

According to the caption of the TikTok video with the audio recording, the teacher is an instructor at the University of Cebu Banilad campus.

Suicides among the youth are a serious public health concern in the Philippines as a survey of over 90 schools in 2021 show that those likely to engage in suicidal behavior suffer from isolation, susbtance abuse and lack of parental involvement, among others. About 16% of the over 8,600 students surveyed had attempted to commit suicide at least once in the last 12 months, according to the sruvey. 

A concerning number of students in basic and higher education died by suicide during and after the COVID-19 pandemic — a prolonged period of isolation known to have exacted a heavy toll on students' and teachers' mental health.

Only the Department of Education has released specific figures of the rise in suicides during the health crisis, counting about 404 learners who died by suicide in 2021, while over 2,000 attempted. No similar figures have come out of the Commission on Higher Education.

The lack of guidance counselors has hampered the provision of adequate mental health support in schools, prompting DepEdin recent years to train more teachers to provide mental health support to students, on top of other administrative tasks.

A 2021 study by the University of the Philippines' Population Institute estimated that around one in five Filipinos aged 15 to 24 years old — or 1.5 million in total — have considered ending their own life. Most of them or six in 10 did not reach out to anyone about their suicide ideation.

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If you or someone you know needs assistance, contact the National Center for Mental Health Crisis Hotline at +63 917 899 8727 and 7989 8727.