July 4-11, 2010

Tutor who forced pupil to ‘eat’ crumpled paper probed

      ROXAS CITY –––  A teacher in the Agbalo  Elementary School in Panay town in Capiz is now under investigation reportedly for  lodging a crumpled paper into the mouth  of her pupil as a form of disciplinary action   during a classroom incident on  June 15 this year.

      Class adviser Gelisa Bocala, said to be a native of Bacolod City, and has reportedly made it as a “rule” in her Class that whoever is found guilty of littering, he or she would be made to eat the littered object.

      The female victim, a Grade 3 pupil and a resident of the nearby Barangay Cogon, also in Panay,   had been badly traumatized as a result of the incident.  She   has since transferred to another school in nearby Pontevedra town.

      The June 15 incident started when one of the victim’s classmates reportedly called the attention of Bocala to a crumpled paper atop the desk of the pupil.

      Bocala reportedly then reminded her pupils of her standing rule, which is to let the guilty one “eat” the littered object.

      The teacher reportedly then took the crumpled paper, asked the “guilty” pupil to open her mouth and then stuffed the crumpled paper into it.  

      The victim’s father, Efren Bulao, wrote members of the local media July 6 asking for their help to ensure transparency in the “Committee Hearing” called by the Department of Education-Division of Panay “to give justice to my daughter.”

      The hearing, set at 9 a.m. July 8 inside the Panay Central School compound in Poblacion, Panay, where the DepEd- Division of Panay building was located, was held closed-door.  Broadcasters from dyVR and dyOW Bombo Radyo  who came to cover the hearing were reportedly not allowed to enter the hearing venue. This raised suspicion of a possible white-wash.

      Bulao told reporters here that all he wanted was to give the teacher a lesson.  The teacher had reportedly apologized for her “abusive act”  and has since warned Bulao that he would only “incur more expenses” if he would push through the case.

      “What do you want me to do?  I already  have  apologized,” Bocala was said to have confronted Bulao.

      The teacher was also said to have told Bulao that the most that can be meted to her as a punishment “is a one-month suspension.”

      Bulao said the teacher  was apparently  trying to discourage him from pursuing the case by warning him of the  “complicated process and the  expensive cost” it may entail.