Rep. Sarah Elago (Kabataan Party-list) is “strongly calling” on Miriam College to investigate various allegations of harassment and pedophilia supposedly concerning students following the emergence of the “#MCHSDOBETTER” hashtag that trended on local Twitter.
On Wednesday, the lawmaker tagged the account of the private school and urged the institution in a tweet to “promptly investigate and address all reports of harassment and pedophilia.”
“#MCHSDOBETTER pakinggan po natin ang mga mag-aaral. Hindi madali magsalita, ngunit mas mahirap ang magtiis dahil hindi pwede hayaang mas marami pang maging biktima,” Elago added, using the hashtag that was initiated in relation to the allegations.
In a follow-up tweet, she encouraged the school to be open about the issue.
“I am a firm believer of the power of information and dialogue. Pag-usapan po, palakasin ang siste ng accountability at prevention ng harassment, at nawa’y patuloy na matuto po kami sa inyo ng pagpapalakas ng laban sa abuso, pagsulong ng karapatan ng bata, kababaihan, sambayanan!” Elago wrote.
Her call came after she received complaints from students who alleged that some teachers were supposedly involved in harassment.
The allegations stemmed from the hashtag “#MCHSDOBETTER,” in which MCHS means “Miriam College High School.”
The hashtag gained traction on local Twitter on Wednesday night and landed on the top trending list with under 10,000 tweets.
Teen singer Frankie “Kakie” Pangilinan, whose #HijaAko hashtag initiated the #HijaAko movement, also shared that she “stands” with the students of MCHS amid the allegations.
#HijaAko became a battle cry of women fighting to end victim-blaming in terms of sex crimes and harassment amid conversations on the rape culture.
Meanwhile, Miriam College has not yet issued a statement about the allegations on its social media accounts as of this writing.
Other schools?
Before #MCHSDOBETTER tweets trended, content creator “yanihatesu” or Yani Villarosa on Sunday urged the Department of Education to probe allegations of sexual misconduct supposedly involving Quezon City Science High School.
“CALLING @DepEd_PH !!! may student na nag-dm sa akin dahil apparently, wala raw ginagawa ang admin ng school nila (quezon city science high school) about this!!!” she tweeted.
The school has likewise not yet released a statement on the online accusations.
Meanwhile, the name of St. Theresa’s College similarly made the rounds on the microblogging platform following allegations of sexual harassment.
On Thursday, Pangilinan shared that more students are coming forward to share their tale of abuse and urged her followers to “stand with them.” Her post included the hashtags #ProtectOurStudents and #STCDOBETTER.
STC has also not yet issued a statement regarding the online reports of student harassment.
