Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Editorial: Sex Abuse and Apathy
UNDER Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995, employers and heads of offices of educational institutions or establishments-public or private-become liable when they merely fail to report sexual harassment cases in their turfs. These administrative persons are also mandated by law to conduct formal investigation if any of such cases arise.
The law's candid, "see-through" attitude towards sex offenses is so designed cases of this nature are commonly kept in the dark-either by the offender who is surely to lose something, or by the victim dearly contemplating for his or her job or standing.
It is therefore mind-boggling for others treat with apparent indifference sex abuse cases against children when the law is so stiff with sexual harassment cases involving adults.
Consider the matter-of-factly response of school officials in Cagayan de Oro when asked by this paper (Sun.Star August 2 issue) what measures had been taken after the multiple sex abuses cases in a public elementary school. Audio recording transcribed from Reporter Cong Corrales provides a damning proof on -and a teeth-gnashing reaction to - the ignorance of some school personnel in the subject of child abuse.
In one of the local DepEd offices, two teachers-reacting on the Camaman-an cases-can be heard detailing incidents of student to student sexual contacts at school, veering away from the charges against suspected child molester Carlos Decipolo. They said children have a way of making things up because of various influence from the media. One quipped the cases could not have been raped, and promptly asked if the victims were just "fingered."
Things were no different at the Cagayan de Oro City Schools Division, where the superintendent could only blurt out that the cases are already in courts. In the first place, school officials were not asked to comment on the case. It is a given fact that they are not lawyers. What was asked of them are matters pertinently related to their jobs-chief of which is the protection of children at school.
Apparently, nothing perceptible was done after the Camaman-an cases. No questions were raised whether espouses of public teachers are now legally allowed to erect mini-canteens inside schools. The suspect's wife didn't even get a memo to warn her of the conduct of her husband. What she got was a transfer of assignment to another school, where officials there were not also informed of the Camaman-an incidents so that they can make informed decisions to prevent the occurrence of similar cases.
All this points to apathy, and as long as this kind of indifference prevails in school, our children are not safe from sexual predators.
