“WE’RE no monsters.”
These were the words uttered by two public school teachers from Cebu City who were accused of calling a student “stupid.”
Maria Cesaria Melgar and her twin sister, Maria Victoria Melgar, were emotional when they faced reporters yesterday morning to deny the child abuse charges hurled against them.
The Melgar twins, who teach at the Camp Lapu-Lapu Elementary School in Barangay Apas, Cebu City, cried foul over the public portrayal of them as monsters by their critics.
For Maria Cesaria, the case filed against them was a mere retaliation.
She said she had lodged a case accusing the child’s parents of grave slander and light threats, which are pending in court.
“The truth is that the case that was published (by the media) was a leverage case on the several cases we filed against the so-called parents of the child (name withheld in adherence to the confidentiality clause of the law),” she told reporters.
The two teachers were charged with the same offense in 2013.
The Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor charged Maria Cesaria, a teacher-adviser at the Camp Lapu-Lapu Elementary School, with violation of Section 10 (a) of Republic Act 7610, or the Anti-Child Abuse Law.
The case stemmed from the complaint filed by Lea (not her real name), who asked Maria Cesaria for her report card, but to no avail. Lea said she failed to claim her card on April 8, 2015 because she got sick.
The following day, Lea, accompanied by her father and stepmother, went to the school to get her report card, but they could not find Maria Cesaria.
The girl and her father returned to her classroom five times, but they could not find the teacher inside the room.
The child’s parents sought help from their school principal, who helped them in enrolling at the Apas National High School without the required report card.
When they returned to Camp Lapu-Lapu Elementary School last April 2, Maria Cesaria reportedly got mad and dared the girl’s parents to pursue their plan of filing charges against her at the Visayas Ombudsman.
Maria Cesaria then berated the girl, allegedly calling her stupid for not getting her card on the scheduled date of release.
But Maria Cesaria said the charges against them came after they lodged a string of complaints against a former school principal and other school officials over the allegedly irregular collection of contributions and tardiness of teachers, among others.
She said the rift also took a toll on their career as they were not allowed to take a study leave for their dissertation.
Maria Victoria, on the other hand, said they could not dare treating their pupils like what was alleged against them.
They presented their school assessment showing positive remarks from their pupils who listed them as their as “favorite teacher.”