WILDFIRE

When a little blazing spark touches the blade of an innocent defenseless grass, it could
lead to a ravaging wildfire engulfing the fields with furious flames of anger and distress.
On the 19th day of December of 2018, Filipino netizens have aroused when a viral video
surfaced from Facebook. Joaquin Montes, a high school student of Ateneo de Manila University
was exposed for bullying a student inside the school’s comfort room. The victim suffered from a
bleeding, fractured nose after Montes landed a sharp blow on his nasal cavity. “Bugbog o
dignidad?” (Beat up or dignity) became a trending phrase after he assaulted his defenseless
schoolmate.
In just a few hours, the video spread rapidly all over the social media sites, sparking
numerous remarks of outrage from the netizens. After the exposure of the first video, three
more videos were leaked showing the same situation of Montes bullying his schoolmates. It
was also revealed that his older brother, Diego Montes was also a bully during his earlier years.
Both brothers are taekwondo athletes and have been claimed to be misusing the essence of the
sport.
December 20, 2018. A statement by Jose Antonio P. Salvador, the University’s Junior
High School principal was released as a response on the video posted.
“The video taken at face value, depicts an evident act of violence that constitutes a
serious violation of disciplinary misconduct. The Ateneo Junior High School is dealing with this
matter seriously beginning with an immediate investigation that ensued the moment the report
reached us.”
After taking immediate action, the administration came to a decision in which the
student Joaquin Montes, is imposed to the penalty of Dismissal which means he is no longer
allowed to return to Ateneo as stated by the University President Mr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin.
Cases of bullying have always been rampant in our country, whether in verbal, physical,
or cyber terms. This issue between Joaquin Montes is merely just a relevant example of the
case.
According to the consolidated report of the Department of Education, the cases of
bullying in both public and private elementary and secondary schools shot up to a total of 21%
in 2014 with an average number of 6,363 cases. This divides into 31 cases of bullying per day
from the 201 days of school.
Bullying is classified into six different major categories. Verbal, Physical, Relational
Aggression, Sexual, Cyber, and Prejudicial. All types different in structure, but leads to the same
devastating effect towards its victims. Bullying chooses no person, big or small, old or young.
Once a bully sees you as a vulnerable victim, he will cling like a tiger sinking its teeth on the
neck of its prey, slowly choking its victim.
 The outcomes of bullying are very ugly. Depression and anxiety are the worst yet most
common effect. About 20% are diagnosed with health problems and are needed to be assessed
by medication. Other victims experience decreased academic performances due to the
unwillingness to go to school and the lack of faith in their academic abilities.
Due to the relevance of bullying, an act was signed by former President Aquino in order
to require all schools to adopt policies to prevent and address the acts of bullying in their
institutions. The Republic Act No. 10627 or otherwise known as the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013.
But despite the implementation of the act, the cases of bullying still continue to
develop. This only goes to show that bullying will never stop unless the bullies stop. We cannot
force people to change, all of us were raised differently to see a distinct point of view that only
we could understand. It might be impossible to get rid of all bullies, but it is possible to fend for
ourselves whenever bullying occurs.
Bullying is like a wildfire, it starts with a little spark of hatred that touches the person
until it becomes one huge conflict that burns the poor defenseless victim’s persona. We cannot
get over it, we cannot get under it, and we cannot get through it.
But working hand in hand, we could slowly extinguish the burning flames and help each
other rise from the trail of ashes that were left by the blazing wildfire called Bullying.