The father & son bullying tag team at Collegio de San Agustin

Rafael Alunan’s post in his facebook got my attention regarding the incident at Collegio de San Agustin an exclusive Catholic school inside an exclusive enclave for the rich in Dasmarinas Village, Makati. Bullying is bad enough and it gets worst when one of the parents identified as Allan Canete Bantilles father of one of the allege bullies stormed the faculty room together with his boyfriend errr bodyguard daw where the victim is at was verbally abused, physically assaulted and threatened with a gun pointed at his head and the school from all indication failed to do what is mandated of them, to quote:

As a precautionary move to immediately defuse this menace to society, CPNP Gen. Nick Bartolome should revoke his licenses to own and permits to carry firearms, as well as pull out his bodyguards if they are policemen. As soon as a case is filed in court, an anti-bullying shame campaign should be waged by media as a public service using this coward Bantiles as Exhibit A.

You must have heard of this bullying incident by now, but just for clarification this is not the same as the cyber bullying that Tito Sotto is talking about at the upper house of Lolong errrr legislative. This is a case of verbal and physical bullying inside the campus of Collegio de San Agustin involving students that’s probably more serious than what we thought earlier once we really dig deeper into the incident.

According to Sony Lopez Gonzales the victim’s grandmother aired on DZMM, her grandson has been the subject of Allan Bantilles’ son and his boyfriend errr okay maybe just BFF or should I say accomplice kept on harassing and bullying his grandson for weeks (that’s what the grandma knew but it appears this has been going on since July). It boiled over when the victim can’t take it anymore and started to fight back punching his tormentor after he repeatedly told them to stop but to no avail. This how the grandma describes the incident at the Everything in Budget blog:

Gonzales said the gun-pointing incident started after her grandson punched another student. She said her grandson only punched the student after reaching his limits due to the latter's alleged bullying. "They kept harassing my apo. Pino-poke ba naman ‘yung penis and pwet. For weeks they were doing that," Gonzales said, referring to the son of the alleged gun-toting parent and another student. "Ulit sila ng ulit. Then sabi ng apo ko, 'tama na, tama na, stop it.' Doon nag-init ang apo ko, siyempre sinuntok niya," she added.

Bullies repeatedly fondling the victim in his pride and glory and his behind is not exactly bullying anymore but already a crime of sexual harassment if not molestation. The school you would think will act accordingly and yet they responded with a 4 day suspension for the victim while giving the bullies a 2 to 3 day suspension and transferred to another section? I can understand the physical response of the victim but how exactly can one defend his honor if one is dealing with mindless bullies? Assuming for the sake of argument that the victim is gay, it does not follow that one can just molest and fondle his most private part nor is it an open invitation to get sexually molested. So when the school gave the bullies a lighter punishment compared to the victim, are they teaching the kids that it is alright to sexually molest and fondle classmates they perceived as gay and weak? You would think that someone who was just molested would have at least been given ample protection by the school authorities since that was their duty and obligation but the situation even got worst as described by Everything in Budget Blog:

Gonzales said after learning of the brawl, the father immediately rushed to the school's campus in Makati with a bodyguard and pointed his gun on the forehead of her grandson.

She said the incident was witnessed by several faculty members since it happened inside the school's faculty room. "[Ang sabi ng tatay], 'you're the boy that hit my boy?' Tapos sinuntok na siya. He kept insulting him. In the meantime ang apo ko apologize ng apologize," she said. "Paulit-ulit [sinasabi ng tatay] 'Do you want me to shoot you? Do you want me to shoot you?' Eh kung na-Rolito Go 'yan, eh 'di patay na ang apo ko." Gonzales said a teacher then told her grandson to run away from the parent.

If this is not wrong on all levels I don’t know what is. Here you have a father storming the faculty room together with an armed boyfriend or bodyguard and what exactly did the school security guard do? That is a big F or failure if you ask me but what really should concern the parents is the teachers lack of training in responding to violent situation like that displayed by Bantilles and his boyfriend bodyguard. As if having failed to protect their student from a man that’s displaying all the signs of a closet queen the school authorities did not even bother to call the police since it was so obvious that their security guards are so inept at protecting the students entrusted for their protection.

We can understand if the school administration refused to air their side on the media but when they did not even call the police or later report the incident to the police people smells something fishy and filthy. It gets worse when their failure to protect the victim even handed him a longer suspension instead of expelling sex molesters in their campus. Failure to file a criminal case against Bantilles is a sad indication of the schools concept of what is just and fair or are they too scared and easily bullied too?

It seems that in the Philippines people are in denial when it comes to sexual harassment and they respond in the most ridiculous if not absurd manner like the sexual harassment case at the UP. The schools response to the gun poking incident was to ban Bantilles from the campus, are they nuts or what? Why did they not sue Bantilles for criminally bringing in a gun inside the school premises and committing criminal act of grave threat with the use of a firearm? Is it because they are afraid of this gay errr guy who maybe influential?

Bullying is a serious problem that has to be dealt with early where early prevention is a must based on the study which I quote:

In one study by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, nearly 60 percent of boys whom researchers classified as bullies in grades six to nine were convicted of at least one crime by the age of 24, while 40 percent had three or more convictions.

The problem is this might not apply in the Philippines since it appears that they still follow the dictum of might is right. Not that the Philippines will not have bullies grow up as a criminal, the difference is on the conviction rate because to this day unless something is done, is that there are different laws that applies depending on one’s status in life. We have criminals and criminal minded people and they are everywhere even at times in the highest position in our government. To think that bullying happens in exclusive schools and they are growing up not appreciating the repercussions of bullying in combination with endemic corruption, it seems we are truly a long way to go before we see civility or seeing perversion as an exception than a rule to some people in positions of power.

So what should we do in this case, are we going to let it pass or are we going to help check this malady early on by shaming Bantilles so others will not follow suit? I suggest the later, a good start is to share this and let bullies know we will not let them abuse and give our youths emotional scars that will stay with them in their adulthood. Calling on the authorities to revoke Bantilles firearm license and recalling his boyfriend errr bodyguard if he is with the police is a good measure in preventing what violence this duo might inflict on others.

Read the update below:

•  Bullies and Bullying in the Land of Patronage
• Assumption College Alumni Letter Campaign against Bullying and Gun Poking at CSA
• Allan Bantilles aka “Roy Negro” & son to file counter suit

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