Preen.ph
  • Home
  • Profiles
  • Fashion
  • Culture
  • Beauty
  • Food
  • Space
  • Events
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
Social Accounts
82K
14K
5K
4K
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About
82K Likes
14K Followers
5K Followers
4K Subscribers
Subscribe
Preen.ph
Preen.ph
  • Home
  • Profiles
  • Fashion
  • Culture
  • Beauty
  • Food
  • Space
  • Events
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
  • Culture
  • Feminism

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

  • Posted on June 26, 2020June 26, 2020
  • 5 minute read
  • Zofiya Acosta
Total
126
Shares
Share 126
Tweet 0

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

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

Total
126
Shares
Share 126
Tweet 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • #MCDoBetter
  • #MCHSDoBetter
  • grooming
  • Miriam College
  • predatory teacher
  • Preen.ph
  • sexual harassment
  • victim blaming
Previous Article
preen blackpink and bts music video release
  • Culture
  • Music

Blinks and ARMYs unite—BTS and BLACKPINK are dropping music videos today

  • Posted on June 26, 2020June 26, 2020
  • Amrie Cruz
View Post
Next Article
  • Culture
  • Podcasts

Fantasy podcasts are giving me new life this quarantine

  • Posted on June 26, 2020June 26, 2020
  • Eternity Ines
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Culture
  • Culture Stories
  • Relationships

An essay about my first loves who I hope I never meet again

  • Posted on February 26, 2021
  • Zofiya Acosta
preen nct ten best dance videos
View Post
  • Culture
  • Music

NCT Ten’s top 5 dance videos that prove he’s one of K-Pop’s bests

  • Posted on February 25, 2021February 25, 2021
  • Amrie Cruz
preen filipino spotify podcasts
View Post
  • Culture
  • Podcasts

7 ultrapersonal Filipino podcasts for your weekday senti moments

  • Posted on February 24, 2021February 24, 2021
  • Amrie Cruz
preen budjang documantary
View Post
  • Culture
  • LGBT
  • Movies

How a docu on a Muslim trans official helped lobby for anti-discrimination

  • Posted on February 23, 2021February 23, 2021
  • Amrie Cruz
Editors’ Picks
  • Time’s Up Ateneo wants schools to be survivor-centered when dealing with sexual harassment
    • Posted on February 15, 2021February 19, 2021
    • 8 minute read
  • 4 online adult toy stores to hit up because LBR you need it, sis
    • Posted on February 12, 2021February 19, 2021
    • 6 minute read
  • preen horny for feelings videos
    Binge these videos if you’re touch starved and horny for feelings
    • Posted on February 11, 2021February 19, 2021
    • 4 minute read
  • 6 trans and nonbinary professionals on navigating the working world
    • Posted on February 8, 2021February 9, 2021
    • 18 minute read
  • ‘True Beauty’ should come with a trigger warning
    • Posted on February 2, 2021February 9, 2021
    • 3 minute read
Social Accounts
82K
14K
5K
4K
Like us on facebook
Subscribe to our Newsletter
about
Preen.ph © 2020. Hinge Inquirer Publications, Inc.
  • Home
  • Profiles
  • Fashion
  • Culture
  • Beauty
  • Food
  • Space
  • Events
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
Social Accounts

Input your search keywords and press Enter.