ILOILO – A high school teacher is under fire for showing an explicit sex instructional video to his Grade 10 Biology class at Pili National High School in Ajuy town. An upset Ajuy Sangguniang Bayan member Angel Briones, chairperson of the committee on public order and safety, described the video as “lewd and offending.”
The Department of Education (DepEd) is conducting an investigation. Dr. Roel Bermejo, DepEd-Iloilo Schools Division superintendent, said the school principal had been ordered to submit an incident report, stressing the importance of due process.
“We want to know the details,” said Bermejo. “We will study the principal’s report.”
On Monday, Nov. 25, Briones delivered a privilege speech during the regular session of the Ajuy SB “to express my outmost concern regarding sang ginhimu sang manunudlo showing an obscene, lewd and offending video.”
“It was a form of abuse sa mga minors,” he said.
From what he had gathered, the teacher got the video (“A Girl’s Guide to 21st Century Sex 2018”) from popular video sharing internet application YouTube.
The video is also accessible to the public but one must have a YouTube account.
Bermejo said the school principal’s report would be submit it to the disciplinary authority which is the director of DepEd Region 6.
The director is expected to act on the matter within 72 hours upon receiving the report, Bermejo added.
For his part, Mayor Jett Rojas said he has no problem with sex education in schools but stressed the importance of using teaching materials suitable to the target learners.
“We cannot deny that minors are sexually active now. We want to guide them and protect them from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases,” said Rojas.
But he warned that impressionable youngsters could form silly ideas from materials not suitable for their age.
Regarding the video in question, Rojas said, “Kon tan-awon mo gid, pang-married couple ini nga ma-spice up ang ila sexual life. Ti, ang audience mo kabataan, suited bala ini sa ila?”
Bermejo said DepEd has an accessible portal for teaching materials related to sex education.
Teachers may use supplementary materials to enrich the students’ learning “but appropriateness should serve as criteria in choosing the materials,” he stressed.
If the video in question is determined to be inappropriate for the students, Bermejo said, DepEd would introduce psycho-social intervention.
He did say what would happen to the teacher.
SB member Briones wondered if the video was “authorized by DepEd to be viewed by minors.”
He also asked who, under DepEd’s guidelines, is the proper person to handle sex education in schools – is it the science teacher or the guidance councilor?
A week before deciding to deliver his privilege speech, Briones revealed, he personally went to Pili National High School to talk to the teacher and check the video himself.
He got wind of the controversial video from concerned parents.
According to Briones, the teacher made him wait for over half an hour.
He believed what he was made to see was already a sanitized version of the video.
But still, he said, it was inappropriate for minors as it showed graphic sex acts.
Citing the seriousness of the matter, Briones said the SB members on Monday decided to summon the teacher.
Bermejo said the DepEd investigation would also cover allegations that the teacher was not “licensed”.
According to Briones, information reached him that the teacher was not a passer of the Licensure Examination for Teachers and that his college course was Biology. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
