Leyte pupils molested by teacher finally get justice after 18 years

ORMOC CITY , Philippines   â€“ Eighteen years after they accused their elementary teacher of molestation, seven girls, who were aged 10 to 12 when they filed a complaint, finally got a closure to their ordeal after the court here found the teacher, now 81 years old, guilty of eight counts of acts of lasciviousness.

The court recently sentenced Glecerio Maga, a former teacher of the Matag-ob Central Elementary School, to a maximum of four years and two months in jail for each count and to pay the victims P15,000 for each count as personal damages and another P15,000 as fine.

The case against Maga, who was 64 when the incidents were reported in 1995, was filed by 19 pupils aged 10 to 12. Through the years, some of the victims though filed affidavits of desistance for various reasons, except for the seven girls who pursued it.

All the victims recalled that the teacher would molest them near his desk when it was positioned near the window, with the rest of the class facing the blackboard. In other occasions, they would be asked to remain after class, on the pretext that they did something wrong.

The teacher would ask them to approach his desk and make them choose a punishment – a pinch or a rubber band flicked at their mouth. But even if they chose either, the “punishment sessions” would end up with Maga mashing their private parts, and licking his finger after he had touched them inside their panties.

That Maga had been doing the same acts to his female pupils over the years was also rumored. One of those who filed a complaint against him in 1995 was already a first year high school student. She joined the complainants when she heard about the case, saying she was also a victim of Maga when she was still in Grade 4 and aged 10.

Dubbed “EEE” in the court’s decision, she was instrumental in Maga’s conviction. Maga, through the years, had insisted on his innocence. Some complainants also subsequently withdrew from the case, including the daughter of a housemaid who later claimed that her signature in the complaint was forged.

Lawyer Evergisto Escalon, the complainants’ private prosecutor, presented “EEE” as a rebuttal witness. She was already 27 years old and also a teacher when she was cross-examined, but her testimony remained unwavering. She recounted how Maga molested her at least two times when she was in Grade 4.

Another rebuttal witness was social worker Enrique Udtuhan, who said he believed the children’s accounts were truthful. He interviewed them one by one, in private sessions, without their parents around to influence them. The children cried unabashedly as they recalled how Maga would touch their private parts.

In his 79-page decision, Executive Judge Clinton Nuevo said the court believes the victims’ testimonies. He noted that Maga “even made a qualified admission about incidents of him ‘accidentally’ and ‘unintentionally’ touching the private parts of his students.”