School bars student from graduating over bikini photos

CEBU CITY, Philippines – For posing in a bikini and posting the photo on her Facebook account, a 16-year-old girl was not allowed to attend her high school graduation ceremony here on Friday.

The mother, however, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against St. Theresa’s College, seeking damages for not allowing her daughter to graduate just because of the photos posted on the social networking site.

The girl’s mother, a doctor, said her daughter “received the shock of her life” when the all-girls school imposed “a harsh sanction that she cannot join the commencement exercises.”

“Since the sanction was given, she (daughter) suffered sleepless nights and (was) compelled to bear hate towards the school which (she is) supposed to honor as her alma mater,” the petition said.

Cebu City regional trial court judge Wilfredo Navarro yesterday ordered the school to submit its reply on the petition.

The school administration imposed the sanction for the “obscene photos” the student posted on her Facebook page. The photos were taken during a birthday party of her friend last January.

The sanction, signed by school principal Celeste Ma. Purisima Pe, stated the girl “cannot join school activities, functions and privileges (senior’s bash and practices for graduation)” and that “she cannot join the commencement exercises.”

One of the rules of the exclusive Catholic girls’ school prohibits the “posting and uploading (of) pictures on the Internet that entail ample body exposure,” which was made the basis for the sanction.

But the girl’s mother contended that the pictures were not lewd, saying that they were taken in an event that is not connected with the school curriculum.

“A family or private social activity, such as birthday, etc. does not involve the school’s supervision and control. The activity is permitted by parents,” the doctor said in her petition.

She also questioned the school’s access to her daughter’s Facebook account that allowed it to see the photos.

“The Facebook account, it being private, is limited only to friends. Defendants (school officials) are not friends allowed to have access,” she said.

Romeo Balili, the school’s legal counsel, said due process was observed in the imposition of the sanction.

“The parents were present when the child signed the probation,” Balili said.

He said the school has the obligation to see to it that the children’s values are developed.

“In order to maintain the morality of the school there were rules and regulations issued to the students as guide,” Balili said.