By Ahikam Pasion/PNA
MANGALDAN, Pangasinan — The Sangguniang Bayan (SB) here is set to pass a resolution and an ordinance to condemn and stop bullying and violence among students in the town.
This, after two incidents of alleged bullying and violence were recorded here, which resulted in the death of two youths aged 11 and 19 years.
Councilor Aldrin Soriano, chairman of the SB committee on education, disclosed he was surprised to learn that Mangaldan has no existing record of any anti-bullying ordinance.
“I was also stunned when I learned that even the Mangaldan police has no record of bullying. It is because if there were cases of alleged bullying reported to them, it would be referred to the school, and to the barangay if it happened outside the school,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Soriano said there was no “uniform record” of bullying incidents in the town, resulting in their inability to determine whether bullying incidents have risen or not, prompting the councilor to include it in the proposed ordinance.
“We wouldn’t be able to monitor, control, or even provide proper intervention if there is no proper recording of the incidents,” he added.
A committee hearing that will be attended by guidance counselors, school heads from the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and other stakeholders, will be scheduled once the ordinance has been introduced to the SB.
Meanwhile, Dr. Leo Blaquir, principal of the Mangaldan National High School (MNHS), clarified that there is no gang or fraternity in the school, amid the mauling and fist fight that occurred on January 15 among four students, which resulted in the death of one of them.
The victim who died on January 17 while being treated in a hospital was identified as Kenneth Cabagbag Langit, Grade 11 student of MNHS.
Blaquir said he has also ordered the addition of guards to watch over the school’s 7,900 students.
Through a memorandum, DepEd Pangasinan Division II Supt. Donato Balderas Jr. has ordered school principals in his division to conduct a re-orientation of the DepEd child protection policy and to mandatorily incorporate it in their messages and talks in every flag raising activity.
“While every school is mandated to look into the safety and welfare of the students at all times, and in addition to the security and safety measures being undertaken already by the schools, this office hereby directs all principals to design and submit specific measures peculiar of their school’s characteristics and needs to further enhance already existing security and safety activities and procedures for pupils and students,” Balderas said.
