Yesterday, the Department of Education (DepEd) has released an official statement regarding a Tiktok video that has gone viral on the internet. The announcement says that they are probing the teacher who posted and appeared on the video for “insinuating potential child abuse action”.
The said video was posted by user @leobondoclopez where he was running his hand through his hair, biting his lip, and dancing to the song “In the Bible” by Drake. The lyric says, “I did my dance one time on TikTok and went viral with it, Mm-hmm, mm (yeah, yeah).” Meanwhile, the words “‘Pag dumaan ‘yung cute na student mo” (When your cute student passes by), and “Tamang pa-cute lang” (Simply acting cute) were seen on the video.
It is now unavailable on the platform and the account seems to have been taken down already. Although, the original video remains on the platform via users who posted a duet with it.
DepEd wrote: “We remind our teachers and non-teaching personnel to always subject our words and actions, including our social media activities, to the highest degree of ethical and professional standards.” Teachers and public servants were reminded by the agency that they “must always champion a safe and nurturing learning environment for children, where physical, verbal, sexual, and other forms of abuse and discrimination are renounced.”
The teacher will reportedly be “meted with appropriate sanctions”, as ordered by DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones to its regional unit in Central Luzon. “DepEd will continue to strengthen its policies and capacity-building activities to further promote our advocacy of protecting our learners against abuse,” the statement concluded. Read the full statement here.
On Facebook, netizens who claim to personally know the teacher have written their sentiments and created hashtags to defend the teacher.
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