Justhen Dave

PISA’s records showed that 40 percent to 60 percent of 13- to 17-year-old children experienced bullying.

Bernadette Madrid of the Child Protection Network Foundation said results of the National Baseline
Survey on Violence Against Children conducted by the Council for the Welfare of Children in 2016
indicated that physical violence was at 66 percent, emotional violence at 58 percent, sexual violence at
20 percent and bullying was at 65 percent.

“And this is across all levels?” Gatchalian asked Madrid.

“Yes. The survey was done on those aged 13 to 17 years... So not only when they were 13 or 17, but
even when they were younger. That was included in the question. So it’s not limited to one grade level.
As we know, middle school is really the peak time for bullying,” Madrid responded.

responded.

“If you do the simple math and apply it to our student population in Grades 1 to 12, 65 percent is about
17.5 million?” Gatchalian further pressed.

“I agree, that’s correct. We have for the public schools, they’re like 27 million students for the DepEd
(Department of Education),” Madrid said.

“Is it safe to conclude that 17.5 million students experienced some form of bullying in our country?”
Gatchalian again asked, to which Madrid answered in the affirmative.
The senator also presented statistics that show that there is a direct relationship between being bullied
and the performance of students, and it can be seen that their scores in math and science are lower
than children who have not been bullied.

“Scores of students in math go down as they experience being bullied. (Students) who were never
bullied scored 351 points in Math. Those who were bullied scored only 269 points – a difference of 82
points,” Madrid added.

Gatchalian expressed belief that bullying is a big problem in the education sector, which should be
addressed to ensure that students will perform better.

“Bullying is an education problem. If we want to address learners’ performance and learning outcomes,
we have to make sure that the school environment is safe and conducive to the confidence of our
students,” he said.

“Bullying creates an environment of fear among students. A lot of them drop out and are not
comfortable to go to school, hence, we see a lot of low scores,” he added.

Based on DepEd’s records, cases of bullying increased since the anti-bullying law took effect in 2013 as
more people have started reporting bullying, especially in schools.

The DepEd reported that 1,309 cases of bullying were reported in Academic Year 2013-2014; 5,624
cases in AY 2014-2015; 7,221 cases in AY 2015-2016; 8,750 cases in AY 2016-2017; 15,866 cases in AY
2017-2018; 21,521 incidents in AY 2018-2019, and 11,637 cases in AY 2019-2020.

DepEd Assistant Secretary Dexter Galban noted that the highest number of bullying cases were from
2018 to 2019, which was at 21,521, while the figure dropped to 11,637 in 2020, which he attributed to
the shift from face-to-face to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gatchalian raised the possibility of underreporting, as many victims of bullying do not report for fear of
retaliation.
He said the 21,000 cases of bullying as recorded by the DepEd was far from the 17 million incidents.

“There is massive underreporting on the school level… I think there is a problem here also of victims not
reporting, and that is a big problem. How do we help them?” he asked.

Galban said the DepEd intends to create new avenues to directly report, like designing a program where
learners can directly report bullying incidents through tele-safe centers to gather reports from learners.

“We are hoping that we will be able to establish regional and immediate action,” he said.

For Sen. Robinhood Padilla, the process of reporting bullying cases should be improved to protect
students who will report and complain about bullying.

Gatchalian agreed with Padilla and told the DepEd to “improve your mechanisms in terms of reporting.”

“A lot of students are scared of reporting. We can see there is a disparity among assessment agencies
versus what is on the ground. That leads us to the conclusion that our units on the ground are not
functioning,” Gatchalian said.

“Most of the perpetrators experience physical violence from family members. Physical violence at
home, when we see a bully we know, that behavior reflects what a bully is experiencing at home. He
himself is suffering from physical violence. Sexual violence at home and very high domestic violence at
home – mother and father fight each other. The behavior of a bully is a reflection of what is happening
at home, most of the time,” Madrid said.

Discrimination

The new law will affect the expansion of a list of prohibitory acts under the Labor Code of the Philippines
such as discrimination against any woman employee with respect to terms and conditions of
employment solely on account of gender. Under the bill, it shall be unlawful for any employer to give a
lesser compensation, including wage, salary, or other forms of remuneration and benefits to a female
compared to a male employee for work of equal value. Father Ryan de los Santos from the Commission
of Family Life of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that the bill is meant to
protect women not only in the upper echelon of Philippine society but ordinary women who rely on
their monthly paycheck.

Racism

LONDON, United Kingdom - Drinks giant Diageo on Wednesday said it had ended its relationship with
Sean "Diddy" Combs after the US rapper accused it of neglecting their business agreement and racism.

Combs, also know by his stage names Puff Daddy, P.Diddy and Diddy, claimed in a New York court filing
on June 1 that the UK-based firm failed to invest in his liquor brands because he is black.

Diageo "kneecapped" his Ciroc Vodka and DeLeon Tequila brands by depriving them of resources after
they were "typecasted" as "black brands" meant for "urban" consumers, he alleged.

The British multinational at the time responded by saying it was "saddened" that the 53-year-old rapper,
actor and producer had misrepresented a business dispute.

On Wednesday, a Diageo spokesperson said: "Mr Combs' bad-faith actions have clearly breached his
contracts and left us no choice but to move to dismiss his baseless complaint and end our business
relationship.

"Mr Combs has repeatedly undermined our partnerships and threatened to publicly defame Diageo if
we did not meet his unreasonable financial demands."

Diageo was committed to the success of Combs' brands and invested more than $100 million in them to
grow them, the spokesperson said.

The drinks firm announced in 2014 that it had created a 50:50 joint venture with Combs Wine & Spirits,
after its acquisition of luxury tequila brand DeLeon, which is popular in Hollywood.
They formed a strategic alliance with Combs in 2007 to develop and grow Ciroc.

But the spokesperson added: "Despite having made a billion dollars over the course of our 15-year
relationship, Mr Combs contributed a total of $1,000 and refused to honour his commitments.

"We have exhausted every reasonable remedy and see no other path forward."

There was no immediate response from Combs.

Combs' legal action claimed that Diageo paid more attention and offered better support to other
celebrity backed brands such as George Clooney's Casamigos and Ryan Reynold's Aviation Gin, and failed
to meet its promises to invest in his.

"Diageo has treated Mr Combs and his brands worse than others because he is black," the filing stated.