1 week Ago By N/A (Dhel Nazario)
Amid the recent cases of bullying, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to fully implement Republic Act (RA) No. 11476, also known as the "GMRC and Value Education Act". Sen.
Sherwin Gatchalian expresses alarm over the increasing incidence of bullying among Filipino school children nationwide as he presides over a public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Basic Education Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Senate PRIB photo)Gatchalian said this during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education following the recent incidents of bullying and violence in schools.Under the law, Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) and Values Education shall replace the existing Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao curriculum.
GMRC shall be taught from Grades 1 to 6 as a separate subject with the same time allotment as the other core subjects, and shall be integrated in the daily learning activities in the kindergarten level. Values Education shall be taught from Grades 7 to 10 as a separate subject with the same time allotment as the other core subjects."Kaya nga sa lahat ng mga subject natin ito lang ang bukod-tanging legislated.
Sinabi ng batas na ito, separate subject siya (That's why, among all our subjects, this is the only one that is specifically legislated. The law states that it is a separate subject)," Gatchalian said."We are yet to see the full rullout of GMRC.
What we demand is a full rollout of GMRC come 2025 to 2026 school year. We cannot wait anymore. Di na tayo pwedeng mag-antay ng isa pang mamatay diyan na bata dahil di natuturuan sila nang maaga (We can't wait for another child to die there because they aren't being taught early enough)," he added.
For the part of DepEd, Asec. Dexter Galban stated that the reason why it wasn't implemented in school year 2022 to 2023 was due to changes that had to be made by the agency because of the pandemic as well as shifting priorities to modalities to adapt for learning continuity.“This was followed by the moves to update and modify the curriculum for the succeeding school year so these were factored into the process of integrating GRMC as a replacement for the Pagpapakatao subject,” said Galban.
According to Gatchalian, the Philippines recorded the highest incidents of bullying across 70-plus nations who took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).He also stated that in 2022, in the country's second PISA assessment, it was still labeled as the bullying capital of the world because of the highest incidence of bullying among 70 nations. This marks two consecutive years, or two PISA assessments in a row, that the Philippines has been recognized as the bullying capital of the world.
"Dapat sa maagang edad pa lang ay natuturuan na sila maging mabuting tao. Maging mabuting mamamayan. Dahil kung umabot na sila ng grade 11, grade 10, grade 11, grade 12, too late na yan eh (They should be taught to be good people at an early age.
To be good citizens. Because if they reach Grade 11, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12—by then, it's already too late)," he said."Masyado ng yung kanilang pag-iisip, eh, nade-develop na.
At mas mahirap pigilin dahil hindi naman mababantayan ng bawat punong-guro ang bawat bata sa loob ng eskwelahan. Halos imposible yun (Their way of thinking is already too developed. And it's harder to control because no principal can watch over every student inside the school.
That’s almost impossible)," he added.Bullying incidents in Quezon City which became viral on social media recently as well as a stabbing incident in Pasig City that injured two students and the death of a student that was stabbed in Parañaque City.Based on Enhanced Basic Education Information System (EBEIS) data shared by Galban, from 2019 to 2022 they have recorded almost 80,000 cases of bullying which includes both physical and cyberbullying.
Gatchalian stated that if they don't implement this law, 10 or 20 years from now, the Philippines will still be facing the same problem and such videos of bullying will still be prevalent.Child Protection CommitteeAccording to Galban, of the 3,210 schools they have assessed, only 966 have been deemed to have a fully functional Child Protection Committee (CPC).Gatchalian slammed this figure, stating that this is unacceptable considering that it's very far from 45,000 schools.
"No wonder magkakaroon tayo ng (we have cases of) bullying. Isn’t it the responsibility of our principals to make sure that we have a functioning CPC/anti-bullying committee?" he asked."That is an actual violation of anti-bullying law, so ano ang liability ng mga principals kung hindi nila gagawin ito? Nakakagulat naman na 966 out of 45,000 (what are the liabilities of the principals if they do not do this? It's surprising that there are just 966 out of 45,000).
That's only 2 percent of our total schools," he added.Galban said that they will look into what viable administrative sanctions can be imposed on the schools that are unable to operationalize their CPCs and hope to log more schools once they conduct an assessment of all 45,000 schools.The senator stated that Deped Secretary Sonny Angara would be disappointed to find out about the figure considering that he's the author of the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 or Republic Act 10627.
"Please be strict about the creation of this CPC because this is a crucial message. If we don’t establish it on the ground, it will send a message that we are not taking bullying in our country seriously. This is fundamental, and I want this to be addressed as well," Gatchalan added.
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