Daven Tamayo

DOJ leads anti-bullying seminar in Taguig school

Article (news)

Agatha Gregorio

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - While he refused to specify the incident, Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Ian Norman Dato said that an investigation showed a child in conflict with the law (CICL) previously complained about being bullied, but their concern was not properly addressed.Dato mentioned this during a student awareness seminar on bullying prevention led by the DOJ at the Bagong Tanyag Integrated School in Taguig City on Friday.&ldquo;Nakikita naman po natin kasi sa news, maraming mga incidents na nakakabahala. At hindi ko lang sasabihin ang particular na insidente, pero lumalabas sa imbestigasyon na &lsquo;yung isang child in conflict with the law, &lsquo;yung tinatawag po natin ng CICL, lumalabas na nagreklamo na pala siya na na-bully siya. At mukhang hindi natulungan nang epektibong pamamaraan,&rdquo; Dato said.&nbsp;Dato clarified that this is &ldquo;all anecdotal at this point,&rdquo; noting that related school violence are still in the prosecution stage or pending in the courts.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/2/deped-school-safety-drill-to-proceed-without-active-shooter-reenactment-1327">DepEd school safety drill to proceed without active-shooter reenactment </a></div>But even if there was a small hint that recent school violence incidents were triggered by bullying, Dato said he believes any effort to prevent bullying would go a long way.&ldquo;The cases are still either in the prosecution stage or in the courts before trial. But the point is even if there&#39;s just a small hint that these incidents might have been triggered by a bullying incident in the school, then any little way with which we can help prevent it would already go a long way into helping our learners,&rdquo; Dato replied when asked about a potential correlation between bullying and recent incidents of school violence.&nbsp;The seminar was held to raise awareness about DOJ Department Circular No. 026, which was issued in July, according to Dato.The circular establishes an &ldquo;accessibility and referral mechanism&rdquo; for complaints regarding bullying.&ldquo;I just want to help the department disseminate that there&#39;s now the Department Circular No. 026 providing a mechanism for our bully victims that they can go to the Department of Justice Action Center or the local prosecution offices if ever they have a complaint or referral with regard to any bullying incident in their school,&rdquo; Dato said.&nbsp;Dato continued, &ldquo;So there&#39;s an additional avenue besides the mechanisms already provided by the DepEd and all the mechanisms that are available at the school level.&rdquo;<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2026/8/19/school-shooting-psychiatrist-warns-of-copycat-risk-lists-possible-warning-signs-1155">School shooting: Psychiatrist warns of copycat risk, lists possible &#39;warning signs&#39;</a></div>During the seminar, Dato also warned against groomers using gaming platforms.Dato told students to &ldquo;ignore&rdquo; individuals who invite them to transfer to messaging platforms while gaming.&ldquo;Mayroon ba kayong naranasan na nag-aalok sa inyo na pumunta na sa WhatsApp o sa Viber? [...] Tawag doon groomers. Ignore them. Huwag na huwag niyo lang bigyan sila ng pagkakataon o atensiyon na dalhin pa kayo sa lugar&ndash;virtual o pisikal&ndash;sa lugar na hindi maganda,&rdquo; Dato said.&nbsp;Dato added that parents are accountable under the law if they fail to support their children&rsquo;s educational attainment.&ldquo;As a matter of general principle, kung hindi napalaki ng magulang nang maayos ang anak, may pananagutan ang magulang sa ilalim ng batas&hellip; Kung &lsquo;yung anak ninyo ay naging biktima ng bullying or &lsquo;yung anak ninyo hindi niyo pinasok sa paaralan o &lsquo;yung anak ninyo hindi niyo sinuportahan sa kanyang educational attainment, ito ay mayroon kayong pananagutan sa ilalim ng batas. Neglect&ndash; parental neglect,&rdquo; Dato said.One complaint has reached the DOJ Action Center on bullying since the release of the DOJ&rsquo;s July circular, according to Dato.&ldquo;And DOJ Action Center was able to give psychosocial support to the victim and also the parents who went to the DOJAC to get support,&rdquo; Dato said.&nbsp;<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/2/pnp-eyes-anti-bullying-help-desks-in-schools-to-boost-student-protection-1553">PNP eyes anti-bullying help desks in schools to boost student protection&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;</div>Bagong Tanyag Integrated School had eight reported incidents of bullying last school year, which school officials said is a low percentage considering the size of the school.However, School Principal Donnabel Balantac said they hope to reduce this number further in coming years through continuous information drives.&nbsp;&ldquo;These information drives na ginagawa namin is just to sustain. It&#39;s for prevention that things will not happen in our school&ndash; minimize the percentage that we had last year. Kasi if the learners are aware and they know that there are people na malalapitan nila, hindi sila nag-iisa, ay mas ano nila na, &lsquo;Ah, kayang-kaya namin ito,&rdquo; Balantac said.

While he refused to specify the incident, Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Ian Norman Dato said that an investigation showed a child in conflict with the law (CICL) previously complained about being bullied, but their concern was not properly addressed.

While he refused to specify the incident, Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Ian Norman Dato said that an investigation showed a child in conflict with the law (CICL) previously complained about being bullied, but their concern was not properly addressed.