Women physically, verbally abused at workplace

Dear Sir,

As a visitor to your country it is with some reluctance that I bring the following to the attention of you and your readers.

While shopping in Cebu city, at the store of a large fabric merchant, I was appalled to witness two (female) employees of the business being physically and verbally abused by the proprietor. That this bully believes he can commit such acts publicly, with apparent impunity, shocks me. I feel for the abused employees who suffered unnecessarily at the hands of this bully. I asked my wife what was going on and she said that a customer complained about slow service. What laws protect employees from such events in the workplace? Were such events to occur in the West, the bully would have been charged with assault, and the employees would have had a strong case for compensation for assault and public humiliation.

I suspect that concerns for the continuity of their employment will prevent the victims from complaining to the police in this case.

My redress to this bully is limited to voting with my feet and taking my business elsewhere, although I was tempted to intervene and punish this bully with my fists, in which case I would have been breaking the law myself.

Maybe the answer lies in stronger unionism in the Philippines, to give employees a combined voice and taking, what seems to be excessive power, away from employers. What happened was a blatant misuse of power and I urge Filipinos to not condone such ill-treatment of their fellow workers.

NAME WITHHELD

Catholic school imposes  Recollection on students

Recently a school located in Villareal (Western Samar) informed parents that a Recollection to be led by a priest will take place on February 16 in Calbayog City for graduating students, emphasizing that students who fail to attend the recollection will not be allowed to join the graduation rites.

It is strange for a school to compel students to attend religious meetings without taking into consideration the students' feelings toward religion. Where is the respect for the individual? Since the recollection will be led by a priest, we can assume the focus will be on the teachings of the Church.

But why force a child to share his feelings if he does not want to and penalize him and his parents by excluding him from the graduation ceremonies?

It will be interesting to know the views and position of the Department of Education and Culture on this matter.

The parents of the students have the right, even the duty, to raise this issue with the Dep-Ed for guidance.

Jean Michaut

Cebu City