• Culture
    Culture
    Filipino actors Bridgerton

    Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

    pura luka vega chappell roan church

    Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

    AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

    AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

    • Women
    • Queer
    • Politics
    • Environment
    • Food
  • Style
    Style
    Pond's serums

    These night serums are your new solutions for radiant, glowing skin

    5 original Filipino fragrance brands to check out

    5 original Filipino fragrance brands to check out

    Here’s where you can get unique, one-off accessories—designed by you

    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Space
    • Shopping
  • Entertainment
    Entertainment
    Filipino actors Bridgerton

    Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

    pura luka vega chappell roan church

    Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

    charlie’s angels totally spies!

    Our favorite onscreen spies, from Austin Powers to ‘Totally Spies!’

    • Celebrities
    • TV & Movies
    • Music
  • Life+Money
    Life+Money
    Single woman adopts baby

    Forming a family: When a single woman adopts a baby

    painting of baby

    A mother-to-be’s survival guide

    Navigating a friend breakup that has no bad blood

    It’s no one’s fault: When a friendship naturally runs its course

    • Career & Money
    • Parenting & Relationships
    • Sex & Health
    • Astrology
    • Travel
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
Reading
“I was 12, I didn’t know any better,” says former Miriam student on her teacher’s grooming
ShareTweet
In Feminism
5 min read

“I was 12, I didn’t know any better,” says former Miriam student on her teacher’s grooming

By Zofiya Acostaon June 26, 2020
Share

Content warning: The following story details accounts of grooming, sexual harassment and fat-shaming

#HijaAko is ushering an unprecedented moment in the country, where women are being emboldened to call out abusers and the institutions protecting them, similar to how #MeToo in 2017 led women in Hollywood to expose powerful men for their sexual harassment. Recently, students and alumni of Miriam College High School in Quezon City spoke up about their own experiences on Twitter, with many of them using the hashtags #MCDoBetter and #MCHSDoBetter. 

tw // pedophilia

one of my friends had a “romantic” relationship with one of our female teachers back in grade 8. don’t even come at me now saying that it was consensual naman, my friend was fucking 12.

— marian lim (@_marianlim) June 24, 2020

Many pointed out the school’s alleged double standards, accusing them of being lenient with accused teachers but extremely strict on the student body. According to students, these were the things that could get you expelled: short, gender nonconforming hairstyles, and even appearing in sex videos that were nonconsensually leaked.

how about how mc keeps expelling students with sex videos that were shared without their consent while the boys over ATENEO GET TO GRADUATE WITH HONORS? how is this FAIR #MCHSDOBETTER

— natsu ? (@anyareigns) June 24, 2020

For many, the hashtags are eye-opening because they illustrate how widespread sexual harassment and grooming are in schools. Andrea, a 23-year-old alumni of MCHS shared with Preen.ph: “When I experienced it in first-year high school, I felt isolated and I didn’t really know of other cases. I didn’t know a lot were experiencing it,” she said. “It was a surprise to me that a lot had experienced it and a lot were speaking out. Back then I couldn’t even tell my classmates or my friends what I had been going through. That was a decade ago.”

Andrea recounts her own experience with her former grade school teacher, who she alleges preyed on her when she was 12 years old and a high school freshman. It started with him texting her. “I know I even asked at first if it was ok [for him to text me] because I wasn’t used to a teacher regarding me very casually and he said, “Graduate ka naman na ng grade school.”

“He kept texting me. At first, it wasn’t anything discomforting, just him asking about my day, getting to know me more, asking about my preferences. I wasn’t used to stuff like that and I think he knew. It was easy for him to establish a connection with me because I didn’t have many friends and I was really a low-key student. I know he began being very sweet, making me feel special. 

“I was 12. I didn’t know better talaga.”

According to Andrea, he would continue texting her over several months, and even gave her two books, “Lolita” and “South of the Border, West of the Sun,” both of which portrayed romances between the adult protagonist and the underage love interests. “He would send me texts like I want to kiss you, I want to taste your lip balm, stuff like that, because he knew I was into flavored lip balms. When he touched me physically and I felt I didn’t like it, he tried to explain na if it feels good for him daw it must be right. He would always try to explain and say, ‘You don’t know anything kasi about relationships.’

“I tried to talk to my guidance counselor about it. That was my moment of courage, 13 na ako nun. But they didn’t believe me, and they even said I was the one who was ruining his life and reputation. So a 12-13 year old is a conniving slut but an almost middle-aged man who is in a position of power and has nothing to lose by exploiting me is innocent?”

Sexual harassment and predatory behavior weren’t the only allegations that emerged. A mother shared with us her daughter’s experience of fat-shaming in school. She alleged that her daughter’s teacher told the class that being fat meant you won’t be successful, and when they reported this to the dean, they were only met with this response: “So ano po mangyayari? Every time may magsabi mataba anak niyo, manunugod kayo?”

Many pointed out that this reckoning was long overdue. “It’s appalling that people like me have to wait for these kinds of opportunities to even be heard. 10 years,” Andrea said. “For years, I couldn’t even tell my story because their words ring in my ear: ‘you’re a liar.’”

“I want to talk about it [now] because I’m scared for the girls who are being groomed and don’t know it, or who will be targets in the future. For my whole high school life, I felt I was the bad girl. I was the one who tempted him, teased him. That’s why I was disgusted with my being a woman. But that’s exactly how they want to make you feel. I can’t imagine someone else going through what I went through. No one deserves that.”

#MCDoBetter has also emboldened students from different high schools to speak up.

I was 14, a grade 7 student. I had a crush on a male teacher and he found out through my classmates (dahil inaasar nila ako sa kanya) then bigla na lang kaming naging “close” dahil siya rin ang coach namin sa speech choir.

— A (@alyssaagaile) June 24, 2020

MCHS has since released a statement on these allegations. “We heard and we listened to the pain- anger- frustration-driven Twitter messages on the purported inappropriate behavior of a few male teachers in our High School through the years,” an open letter by the school president entitled “MC’s Commitment to Truth and Restorative Justice” on the school’s website reads. “Please be assured that we have promptly initiated investigation of these reports and will take appropriate steps to resolve the situation.”

The letter also said that the school does “not want our students to fear retribution nor faculty members to fear lack of due process when cases such as the ones tweeted about are raised,” and that they are forming a committee “called the Justice, Truth, and Reconciliation Institutional Committee that will initiate a serious review of the cases in the past and the resolution of these cases. This institutional Committee, independent of any existing committees will also look into and act on the current cases, if any, and to recommend appropriate steps.” 

“I wish to assure everybody that Miriam College will do better as it moves forward,” the letter read.

Preen.ph reached out to Miriam College for a response but has not yet received a reply.

 

Header photo courtesy of Feliphe Schiarolli on Unsplash

Follow Preen on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Viber

Related stories:
‘Ang Huling El Bimbo’ star is called out for non-apology video denying abuse allegations
More tea with your cookies: Cookies by the Bucket called out for unfair labor practices
Kakie vs. boomers: Calling someone “hija” does not give you the high ground
We hope #HijaAko serves as a wakeup call to end protecting celebrity sexual abusers

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0

Action Required!

We embed Facebook Comments plugin to allow you to leave comment at our website using your Facebook account. It may collects your IP address, your web browser User Agent, store and retrieve cookies on your browser, embed additional tracking, and monitor your interaction with the commenting interface, including correlating your Facebook account with whatever action you take within the interface (such as “liking” someone’s comment, replying to other comments), if you are logged into Facebook. For more information about how this data may be used, please see Facebook’s data privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Accept    Decline

Tags
groomingsexual harassmentvictim blaming

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay in the loop


By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

ShareTweetEmailShare
Zofiya Acosta
Zofiya, editor, cat parent, and Very Online™️ person, has not had a good night’s sleep since 2016. They love movies and TV and could spend their whole life talking about how 2003’s “Crying Ladies” is the best movie anyone’s ever made.

Peek This

Pond's serums

These night serums are your new solutions for radiant, glowing skin

Filipino actors Bridgerton

Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

pura luka vega chappell roan church

Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

Preen.ph © 2020. Hinge Inquirer Publications, Inc.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • HOME
  • ARCHIVES
  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
Previous
Fantasy podcasts are giving me new life this quarantine
preen blackpink and bts music video release
Next
Blinks and ARMYs unite—BTS and BLACKPINK are dropping music videos today
  • Culture
    • Women
    • Queer
    • Politics
    • Environment
    • Food
  • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Space
    • Shopping
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrities
    • TV & Movies
    • Music
  • Life+Money
    • Career & Money
    • Parenting & Relationships
    • Sex & Health
    • Astrology
    • Travel
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Search
Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close
fashion fashion news music Culture News movies
See all results

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay in the loop


By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.