Lawmakers want schools to post crimes, offenders

MANILA, Philippines - Two lawmakers representing a party-list group is pushing for the passage of a bill that would compel schools to post updates on crimes and the names of offenders in their area.

A Teachers party-list Reps. Julieta Cortuna and Mariano Piamonte filed House Bill 43, the proposed Crime Awareness for Schools, College and Universities Act, which seeks to mandate all schools and universities to post in at least five conspicuous places in campus the current crime situation in their communities five days before the start of every enrollment period.

“With news about students, teachers, school administrators being murdered, bullied, mugged, raped, and generally transgressed upon, it is high time for us to seriously consider what we, as lawmakers, can do to keep them prepared and alert inside the school campus,” Piamonte said.

Under the bill, the schools are mandated to post copies of crime situation reports on their bulletin boards and take them down only at the end of the schoolyear.

The school or university administrator should, a month prior to the enrollment period, inform the police station that has jurisdiction over the area where the school is located the exact dates of enrollment, according to the bill.

The station commander, in turn, should send the school within 15 days a signed copy of the updated crime reports in his jurisdiction. The report should have information on the dates, places and crimes committed as well as the status of the cases and the names of offenders.