Authorities should investigate allegations of sexual abuse and harassment at the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA), the Child Rights Network said.
The child rights advocates also demanded the “safe return of students at the state-run boarding school in Laguna.”
“The administrators of PHSA and the agencies that oversee it, including the Department of Education and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, must immediately address the cycle of abuse in this school,” a statement from the group, quoted by an ABS-CBN report, said. “Our very own educational and cultural agencies should not be aiding and abetting the sexual abuse of students.”
A report from Vice World News said current and former students had experienced sexual, physical and emotional abuse from the school’s teachers and staff.
In January, current students and alumni also signed a letter urging the PHSA administration to ensure the campus would be safe from abuse. The child right’s group stressed these claims of abuse violate laws aimed at protecting children, ABS-CBN News reported.
“We call on DepEd, CCP, and the whole government to expedite the investigations, execute comprehensive actions, and ensure that not one more student would be subjected to sexual abuse and harassment,” the group’s statement also said.
“We also call on the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Philippine National Police to initiate a thorough investigation on the matter, and ensure that our educational institutions are safe spaces, especially for children.”
In response to the report, the PHSA vowed it would provide its students a “safe learning environment”
But the management described as “unfair” that the state-run school had become a “haven for abuse,” ABS-CBN reported. “As felt by many of our alumni, teachers and staff, some of whom have worked at PHSA for more than 20 years, the sweeping generalization, as shown in the articles portraying the PHSA as haven for abuse, is unfair,” the PHSA said in a statement.
“But please be assured all our school personnel are working hand in hand towards providing our students a safe learning environment, whether online or in Makiling.”
The PHSA said it “sympathizes” with its alumni who complained of past abuses and urged them to file their complaints with the school’s designated committees, the ABS-CBN report said.