NBI identifies 3 suspects in Philippine art school ‘abuse’

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has identified three suspects in the alleged sexual abuses that reportedly occurred at the state-run Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) in Los Baños, Laguna.

No one among the victims interviewed by the media about the alleged abuses were willing to file formal complaints, according to NBI special action unit investigator Eugene Javier.

The NBI submitted a report to Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio, informing her that it is up to the Department of Education (DepEd) to determine the administrative liability.

“Our jurisdiction is on the criminal aspect only. Anything less is hearsay and inadmissible in court,” Javier said, noting the importance of notarized affidavits from the victims.

“The victims divulged to the media the alleged culture of abuse at the PHSA, in the hope that reforms would be instituted,” the NBI said in its report to the DepEd.

“We are leaving the administrative aspects to the DepEd, which requires a much less quantum of evidence than we are restricted to,” Javier said.

The three suspects identified by the NBI include a senior student, who was kicked out because of sexual abuse allegations; a teacher, who purportedly required students to stay with him overnight so he could molest them, and a male dormitory parent who harassed female minors.

“The teacher died in November. The dormitory parent underwent and failed a polygraph test at the NBI’s forensics laboratory,” Javier said.

The NBI is willing to reopen the case once the complainants decide to come forward and file a case.

Javier said the complainants could go to the NBI headquarters at the V. Tech Tower in Quezon City to formalize their complaints.

The story first came out on the Vice World News, wherein the victims detailed the alleged sexual, verbal and emotional abuse they suffered from senior students, teachers and staff of the PHSA.

The victims said the “ordeal of having to endure the abuse as an artists’ rite of passage” traumatized them. They want the school to be held accountable.

The school management denied the allegations.