Anti-bullying policy mandated in all schools

MANILA, Philippines —  All schools are mandated to have their own anti-bullying policy as School Year 2026-2027 formally opens on Monday, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) said yesterday, noting that the country remains the “bullying capital of the world.”

In an interview with dzMM, EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said schools should enforce the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013.

“It is the first time that the revised IRR will start on Monday, June 8. We need to ensure that all schools will have their own anti-bullying plan and policy that should say what are the minor and major offenses,” Yee said.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara has signed the Revised IRR of Republic Act 10627, which mandates all public and private basic education institutions, including community learning centers and DepEd-supervised overseas schools, to adopt and implement a standard anti-bullying policy.

“All schools should have a formation officer that if something happens, he will give not only sanctions, but also lessons or formations to the students so that these problems will not happen again. So, this is part of the reform that we hope to see that will be fully implemented this coming school year,” Yee added.

He noted that based on the study conducted by EDCOM 2 and De La Salle University, the country is still the “bullying capital of the world,” with highest incidence of bullying across all participating countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

“Sixty-five percent of Filipino children in Grade 10 said that they were victimized by bullying several times a month. Then 40 percent said that they experienced bullying every week. What we saw is that all the children who were bullied, their self-confidence, their determination to study were affected. So instead of talking, they chose to be silent. Instead of going to school, they chose to be absent. So we have a lot of problems with absenteeism, or children who do not go to school. The teachers also told us about this,” Yee noted.

Yee noted that not all bullying incidents were reported by the Department of Education (DepEd).

“But we know the truth. First, not all bullying incidents were reported. Second, those that were reported, what happened? And when we found out, because finally DepEd helped us in 2024, to find out what the data is, the number of reports of bullying incidents increased,” he said.

He said that from 1,000 cases reported in 2013, in 2018 to 2019, there were already 20,000 reported bullying cases within a year.

Yee cited the lack of guidance counselors to handle the bullying in schools.

“What happened is, the teacher, who has a lot of work, handles the problems on the ground. We don’t have other officers, non-teaching personnel in the schools. That’s why the data was not reported for a long time,” he said.

According to Yee, the PISA results highlighted the extent of the problem of bullying in the country.

“The Filipino learners don’t feel safe in school. They are afraid to go to school because of that. So we really need to resolve this,” Yee noted.

Yee said schools don’t report bullying cases amid incentive given to those with zero bullying incidents.

“What happens is, the schools sometimes don’t report because the schools’ ranking or rating is affected when they report bullying,” he added.