Address bullying in schools, Angara urges officials

MANILA, Philippines — The Department on Education (DepEd) should ensure that all public and private kindergarten, elementary and high schools in the country are implementing prevention and intervention programs to address bullying, Sen. Sonny Angara said yesterday.

Angara cited data on child protection from DepEd that showed a total of 19,672 cases of bullying in public and private elementary and high schools were recorded during the school year 2016-2017.

Based on a cycle of 202 school days, this translates to 97 reported incidents of bullying in schools every day, he said.

“Nearly 100 cases of bullying every day was recorded by the DepEd, and it's possible many more have not been reported due to fear or shame by victims of bullying," the senator said.

“Bullying is one of the earliest forms of violence our children encounter. We must do everything we can to protect them from it,” said Angara, who authored the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 or Republic Act 10627 when he was still a congressman.

The Anti-Bullying Law mandates all public and private kindergarten, elementary and high schools in the country to adopt anti-bullying policies, which include provisions on prohibited acts, prevention and intervention programs, mechanisms and procedures in handling bullying incidents.

Under the law, bullying can be: 1) unwanted physical contact such as punching, pushing, kicking and slapping; 2) any act that causes damage to emotional well-being; 3) any slanderous statement or accusation like directing foul language or profanity and name-calling; 4) gender-based bullying; and, 5) cyber-bullying.