LAST week, the wife of Quezon city councilor Alfred Vargas posted in her social media account that she had filed 20 counts (I repeat, 20 counts) of cyber libel against an individual whom she did not name.
In her post, Yasmine Espiritu-Vargas said she was forced to file the cyber libel suit against the unnamed individual after this person continuously attacked her family — her son, her husband and herself in her social media posts. Yasmine claimed that this continued despite the fact that they tried to reach out to the said person to try to patch up the differences between their families — which emanated from the alleged bullying by the unnamed person’s son of Yasmine’s son.
While she refused to name the respondent in the 20 counts of cyber libel that she filed, Yasmine’s mere mention of the bullying of her son was a giveaway.
About two weeks ago, Yasmine and her husband, councilor Alfred, filed a case against Juvelle Bacosa and Robert Vincent Sy for violation of Section 10(a) of Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Manila,.
In filing the case, the Vargases cited a pattern of conduct where the respondents' minor child repeatedly pushed and held their son underwater during swimming training sessions.
The bullying incidents, the Vargases claimed, by way of drowning the Vargas couple's child, occurred several times despite efforts, reminders and appeals made by the Vargases to the parents of the alleged bully to tell their child to stop and to manage the minor's conduct.
Unfortunately, the couple said that every time they went to the parents to try to resolve these issues, they “were either dismissed or gaslighted.”
The situation reached a breaking point during a swimming competition at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex last February.
At the event, Vargas said he and several other people personally witnessed the minor pushing his child at the side area of the pool during the warm-up period, almost injuring his son right before the competition.
To make matters worse, after the near-injury, the Vargases said two other friends of the bully laughed at his son as he lay on the ground, causing the child severe fear and emotional distress.
One time, the couple said the bully hit their son in a somewhat obscene sexual fashion but when they called the attention of the mother, referring to Juvelle, she simply retorted, “He's just dancing!'”
With the case having been filed, the bully’s mother reportedly started a series of posts in her social media account, which allegedly attacked the Vargases, painting them as the villains instead, Yasmine opted to take the legal route and filed charges against the alleged bully’s mother.
“These claims,” Yasmine said referring to Juvelle’s social media posts, “are false and are meant to damage our name and reputation.”
Yasmine is right. The alleged bully’s parents, Juvelle and Robert, could have simply sat down with them to thresh out the problem. But instead, they chose to wage war on social media. For a short period of time, they could have gained sympathy. But the truth will always come out and it could be messy for them as they now have to face 20 counts of cyber libel.
I can only relate with the Vargases as I have witnessed a number of bullying incidents involving minors and even toddlers. And when you try to call the attention of their parents, they would simply fire back, “Bata lang yan.” Never do they understand that letting these kids get away with their bullying acts at an early age would actually take its toll when they grow up to be adults as they believe what they have done during their childhood days were simply right.
Bullying knows no age. And bullying, in any form, has no place in our community.
And more importantly, bullies can never be the victims.
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At least, the employees of Coliseo de Manila won’t be joining the throngs of workers marching on the streets come May 1 demanding a return to work due to illegal lockdown, albeit theirs is a unique one as it was not the management of the establishment which forced the closure but elements of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
This was after the arena resumed operations 10 days ago on April 18, after securing a writ of preliminary injunction.
However, the game is not over yet as the management of Coliseo de Manila, a cockpit arena in Tondo, said they intend to pursue administrative and criminal charges against the PNP-CIDG over what they claim to be an allegedly unauthorized raid.
Actually, the PNP-CIDG already lost the first round after the Manila Prosecutor’s Office’s dismissal of illegal gambling charges against the arena.
The management has filed administrative complaints for grave misconduct, oppression, maltreatment, and illegal search and seizure with the National Police Commission.
Furthermore, a criminal case for grave coercion and robbery was filed with the Manila Regional Trial Court against the raiding team led by Col. John Guiagui.
Coliseo lawyer Carl Mucho alleged that CCTV footage from the raid shows an officer in civilian clothes pocketing approximately P400,000 from a teller’s desk.
“The actions of these officers are documented in CCTV footage and video recordings from our witnesses,” Mucho said, adding that more charges are being prepared on behalf of tellers, workers and cockpit aficionados.
The management also reported a significant loss of livestock, claiming that 400 fighting cocks died after police barred anyone from entering the premises to care for the birds or return them to their owners.
They reiterated that Coliseo de Manila does not engage in online gambling and only hosts traditional, in-house betting permitted by law.
Well, it seems it will be the raiding team that will be looking for work after this case is decided by the court.
