TEACHER MELITA LIMJUCO HAS STRONG BASIS TO SUE RAFFY TULFO, TV5, AND PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS OF PUPIL
:: Press Release
[They are liable for criminal, civil, and administrative offenses against Mrs. Limjuco]
Veteran public school teacher Mrs. Melita Limjuco, a teacher in her 50s of Epifanio Delos Santos Elementary School, who has been teaching for some 29 years, and who was publicly "tried" in the TV program of Mr. Raffy Tulfo TV5 has strong legal basis to sue Mr. Tulfo, the parents and grandparent of the pupil " said Atty. Bong Belaro, former Commissioner of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and current dean of the Wesleyan University College of Law.
"Mrs. Limjuco's right to due process was clearly violated by Raffy Tulfo, TV5, and her pupil's parents and grandparents during that televised interview. Mrs. Limjuco and her family are also suffering intense mental and emotional anguish from being humiliated and degraded in that interview," Belaro said.
The veteran lawyer said, "Teacher Melita Limjuco is also well within her rights to sue Raffy Tulfo for, among others, acting as judge, jury, and executioner because by his actions, Tulfo also usurped the authority of the Department of Education to conduct its proper administrative procedures consistent with the DepEd Child Protection Policy."
"Raffy Tulfo even went to the extreme of threatening Mrs. Limjuco with the revocation of her license as a professional teacher, in addition to disrespectfully, maliciously, and inhumanely denigrating her person and reputation. TV5, by allowing the public humiliation and trial by publicity to continue airing on national television, is also civilly and criminally liable in aiding and abetting Mr. Tulfo's verbal assaults, slander, and defamation inflicted upon Mrs. Limjuco," Belaro explained.
Belaro said, "based on the available facts, Mrs. Limjuco's disciplinary measure is not inconsistent with the provisions of the DepEd Child Protection Policy and is yet to be proven to have infringed any of our country's child protection laws. Let us await the DepEd decision on this issue. In fact, it is Mrs. Limjuco's person and rights that have been violated on live national television."
"Raffy Tulfo, TV5, and the parents and grandparent of the pupil should be ashamed of themselves, publicly apologize to Mrs. Limjuco, properly compensate her for the mental anguish and malice they have inflicted upon her. Tulfo and TV5 should also be administratively penalized for violations of laws and regulations on standards of broadcasting. All these are on top of the possible criminal liability for slander, defamation, and other pertinent crimes" Belaro pointed out.
"In the 17th Congress, I was one of the authors of the proposed Teacher Protection Bill as Representative of 1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list. Teachers, as the second parents of our children, should be given some leeway to assert their authority in the classroom otherwise we will be raising untouchable students and inutile second parents,” said Belaro, a 2018 UP Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus for Public Service and Good Governance honoree.
Belaro, founder and first nominee of 1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list, also lamented the occurrence of teacher-shaming incidents saying that they are inimical to our quest for the improvement of quality of education in our country. If we are serious about it, we should be protecting our teachers all the more since they are at the forefront of our educational system. The government owes them the assurance that incidents like these which are based on flimsy, malicious, dubious and insubstantial causes will not be tolerated. (END)
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