6 teachers face child abuse raps

Six teachers of the Novaliches High School were recently charged in the Quezon Prosecutors' Office of allegedly abusing three of their students in exchange for favorable grades during the recently-concluded school year.

Assistant Prosecutor Lorna Chua-Cheng is now reviewing the child abuse charges filed against Roger Ampida, Rey Retutar, Ricky Alipan, Rannie Camoda, Paul Baladat and a certain Obet, if the complaints warrant the filing of formal charges in the Quezon City court.

Three graduating fourth year students accused the six teachers of coercing them into performing prohibited acts sometime last year, to get passing marks. The victims were all male students.

In a radio interview, Abraham Pulong, Novaliches High School guidance counselor, said the division of city schools of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) has already looked into the allegations of three of their students.

"We have started to conduct an investigation," he said.

Apart from child abuse charges, the students also filed acts of lasciviousness, sexual harassment and threats against their teachers. --