THE Junior High School bully in the video that went viral on social media has been dismissed by the administration of the Ateneo de Manila University. This means the bully will now have to seek another school that would admit him as a student. I think that is punishment enough and I hope all those who have seen the video will now move on. The “crime” and punishment cycle has been completed.
Supporters of President Duterte have taken exception to efforts by his critics to link the act of bullying at the Ateneo to his administration’s style of governance, which thrives on threats and intimidation. I am not prepared to go in that direction considering that I don’t know the bully and the circumstances that caused him to do what he did.
Rather, what this recent episode shows is that given the right circumstance, people hate bullies. The reaction to the viral video was one of condemnation, which is rightly so. But I have to qualify that with the phrase “right circumstance” because people tend to be selective on this matter. Diehard Duterte supporters, for example, tend to close their eyes to this administration’s bullying of its critics.
Now here’s another case of apparent bullying.
Iloilo Rep. Oscar Garin Jr., the husband of former Health secretary Janette Garin, together with his father, Guimbal Mayor Oscar Garin Sr. are currently in hot water for assaulting a police officer. They are being accused of handcuffing PO3 Federico Macaya Jr. after he was disarmed by his own superior, Guimbal Police Chief Antonio Monreal, and then of beating him up. Reports say Macaya was left with a cut on his left cheek, a swollen face and a black eye. The younger Garin also supposedly spat at Macaya.
Macaya’s alleged transgression? The Garins accused him of persuading a young man not to file a physical assault complaint against another man in an incident that happened at the town plaza on Dec. 22.
The American Psychological Association defines bullying as “a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort.” It added: “Bullying can take the form of physical contact, words or more subtle actions. The bullied individual typically has trouble defending him or herself and does nothing to ‘cause’ the bullying.”
Bullying usually refers to the one committed in a school milieu or one involving the youth. But in the case of the Garins, the same assault and imbalance of power exist. Macaya was first disarmed before the Garins handcuffed and assaulted him. And the supposed cause of the bullying was an alleged act not involving the Garins.
What the Garins did was abuse of governmental power, which is different from the act of the Ateneo bully but more reprehensible. Now they are being stripped of that power.
Aside from the charges for direct assault, grave coercion, grave threats, physical injuries, slander by deeds, serious illegal detention and alarm and scandal they are facing, their bodyguards were pulled out and their permit to carry firearms (they own a total of 19 guns) was revoked. Oscar Garin Sr. may also be stripped of his supervision over the Guimbal police force. Mayra.