Sexual Harassment in PUVs

Last month, a Facebook post of Geo Celestino went viral claiming that his sister, a
student of College of Fine Arts and Design was allegedly victim blamed by the
SWDB after the sexual harassment issue. This post angered not only the Thomasian
community but also the netizens, it even came to the point when the Gabriela Party-
list, a leftist Filipino organization that advocates for women’s issue, stepped in on the
issue. The controversy started 7 months ago but the public noticed it just last month
after the brother posted his concerns on social media.

It all started with a tweet. Yssa, a 3rd-year CFAD student posted on twitter a blurred
picture of an Engineering student, who was later known to be a Thomasian also,
ranting about how the guy allegedly sexually harassed her inside a UV Express. I
didn’t personally see the tweet, but the screen captured one was circulated after the
issue burst out. It was posted by an anonymous twitter dummy account that claimed
that there is no sexual harassment actually happened and that his ‘friend’ was falsely
accused. Now, how can we possibly believe a ‘dummy’ who can’t even stand up to
what he/she believe in and just plainly hide behind a fake account?

Nowadays, since posting your concerns like this was considered a normal thing (to
some), she decided to take matters into her own hands and raise awareness for
being sexually harassed not by anyone, but by a Thomasian also. These tweets
were posted last July 2016 and soon, the university requested her to take down the
tweets after the guy, a 5th year Engineering student filed a written complaint about
being allegedly false accused by the female student.

After months of trials, the issue died. It wasn’t a big deal for the Thomasian
community honestly, it soon died down and never been heard. Even I personally
have no idea about the issue.

But last January 2017, the female student’s brother Geo Celestino voiced out his
concerns on social media. He claimed that UST’s Office of Student Affairs victim
blamed his sister. He cited that their family doesn’t know the issue until they were
able to receive a Notice of Resolution coming from the admin. On his account, he
narrated what happened based on what his sister has told her supporting the CFAD
student’s tweet earlier. He also narrated how did the case go down. He said when
his sister tried to explain her side, it only fell on deaf ears because “…3rd-year siya
and 5th-year ang kalaban niya…” this is what he said in his post.

On the last day of the hearing, still according to Celestino’s post, his sister was
asked to apologize in person to the Engineering student. And so she did, just for the
sake of getting over it.
Since the start of time, victim blaming is a rampant issue. Why are women
molested? Why is she harassed? Ah, because her pants are too tight. Because her
skirt is too short to the point that you can see her legs. Because she’s not dressed
decently. Because she is asking for it. Or maybe she’s lying? Maybe it didn’t
happen? Maybe she’s all making it up? These are just some of the statements you
can read or hear when there’s a sexual harassment issue. Sexual assault is NEVER
the victim’s fault. Sexual assault is a violent attack on an individual, not a
spontaneous crime of sexual passion. For a victim, it is a humiliating and degrading
act. No one “asks” for or deserves this type of attack. But we fail to recognize it
anyway. Because we are so blinded by the fact that if a girl wears skimpy clothes
she’s subjected to answer to your carnal desires. No, she’s not. There are reports
that even though these women were perfectly covered, or should I say has “decent”
attire, they are still subjected to sexual harassment.

As what the male student’s friends claim, he was falsely accused and settled on
attacking the female student’s way of expressing her distressed against her
perpetrator. They berated the CFAD student’s cursing and “unladylike” acts.

Reported sexual assaults are true, with very few exceptions. According to
CONNSACS, only 2% of reported rapes are false. This is the same rate of false
reporting as other major crime reports.

They claimed that there is an act of cyberbullying there. But she didn’t actually
mention the Engineering student’s name or was publicly posted by anyone. Maybe
by some who knows the guy but he wasn’t entirely bullied because if he is, his name
will be all over the social media. But no, the defendants family decided to respect his
privacy despite everything and requested not to dig deeper into the identity of the
guy.

After having countless cries for the University and Student Councils to release a
statement, it soon happened. But, the UST’s statement was criticized by a lot for
having a vague stand on the issue. Also, they told that the evidence and statements
said by Geo Celestino do not confirm what was written in their files.

The local student councils of the two students kept their mouth shut on the issue.
While everyone is asking for the Central Student Council’s official statement, after
releasing it, it was soon criticized and they were accused of plagiarizing the
statement of The UST Political Science Forum, which was not addressed by the
CSC later on.

Personally, I don’t want the Engineering student to have a critical sanction because
of course, we’re on the same Faculty. But, I also condemn his acts (if it’s the truth) of
molesting the female student. He should be punished accordingly, and I hope that
the admin will seek the truth behind this and not just settle for a compromise. Issues
like this should not be bailed out easily, it should be addressed properly and justice
shall be served. For we are all Christians, we all should subject to Christian-like acts.
We should be against oppression.