6 school boys in trouble over FB kiss photos

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Catholic school is witholding the diplomas of six high school boys who uploaded Facebook photos that appear to show them kissing each other, an education official said Friday.

A day earlier, a regional trial court rejected another Catholic school's decision to bar five girls from graduation ceremonies because they had posed in bikinis for photos posted on Facebook. The cases test the limits of privacy in a conservative Catholic nation that is also among the world's most prolific users of social networking sites.

Department of Education officer Samuel Mergenio said in a interview that the six boys told him they had taken prank photos to make it appear that their lips touched. One of the boys uploaded the pictures on Facebook and mistakenly made them available to others, Mergenio said.

The pictures were not taken at the boys' school, Infant Jesus Academy in Marikina City, but the students were wearing school uniforms, he said.

Mergenio said the school's chancellor informed the department late Thursday that the boys will be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremonies but "the release of their diplomas will be delayed." He said the school did not say when the diplomas will be handed over and that he was awaiting a formal written report from the school.

The school chancellor was not immediately available for comment Friday.

On Thursday, a judge in Cebu city issued a restraining order against St. Theresa's College High School, ordering it to allow the five students who appeared in the bikini photos to take part in Friday afternoon's graduation ceremonies.

The school, which declined to comment to The Associated Press, asked the court to reconsider. The girls' lawyer, Cornelio Mercado, said Friday that the school was still insisting on banning the students while its motion for reconsideration is pending.

Mercado said one Facebook photo at issue showed a girl holding a cigarette and a liquor bottle, while others showed all five girls wearing bikinis at a beach party early this year.

School officials took action against the girls for what they called "engaging in immoral, indecent, obscene or lewd acts," according to court records. They said the students would graduate but could not participate in activities or ceremonies.

Earlier this month, the five girls were summoned by the principal and other school officials, "dressed down" and called "sluts" for their Facebook pictures, Mercado said.

The judge, Wilfredo Navarro of the Regional Trial Court, castigated school officials for calling the girls "inappropriate names" and said the students had gone through "a psychologically and emotionally devastating experience." He said not allowing them to participate in graduation activities "would indeed be most un-Christian if not entirely inhuman."

The mother of one girl had petitioned the court on behalf of her daughter. Mercado said the ruling applied to all five.

He said the families on Friday filed charges of "grave oral defamation" and illegal use of photos showing minors against the school and school officials. He alleged that the school officials had illegally obtained the pictures because they were not Facebook "friends" of the girls and were not allowed access.