Please pass this on to those who have children in High School ...
From: Celine Piezas
Date: February 10, 2009 3:38:10 AM GMT+08:00
To: Ateneo 2C <2C_parents_AHS@ yahoogroups. com>
Subject: PASS TO OTHERS
SO THAT THEY MAY KNOW
Reply-To: celine_ocampo_ piezas@yahoo. com
February 9, 2009
Dear Ateneo parents, students and STOYA members,
Three months back, I found out that an “OPEN PARTY” organized by students
of the Assumption was booked at our village clubhouse. In this event, the
venue meant for 300 pax was packed with as many as 800, due to the
zealousness of its
organizers to maximize its earnings. Many of the
attendees had no recourse but to spill over to the parking area. That
night, a nasty brawl occurred right outside the venue, and the
security
incident report outlined the destruction caused to the clubhouse
facilities, the sight of inebriated teen-agers holding bottles of liquor
roaming the streets, and the discovery of used condoms on the park grounds
and alleys the following day. (You can verify this yourself.) We were on
an out of town trip when all these happened and I could only imagine the
chaos that went on.
Last January 16, 2009 my son Marcel Piezas, a 2nd year Ateneo student,
pleaded with me to allow him to attend an “OPEN PARTY” organized by 3rd
year Poveda High
School students at Greenmeadows. I warned him about the
untoward incidents in our village but due to his persistent pleas,
reassurances, acceptance of certain conditions (e.g.
curfew) coupled with
guilt trips of being labelled an outcast once denied of participation, I
succumbed to his appeal.
That night at around half past eleven, I found myself praying for Marcel’s
protection, possibly owing to vague intuition, not knowing what was going
just a stone’s throw away.
At around 11:30 p.m., after having danced with around three other girls,
Marcel asked for a dance with Ms. A (name withheld). The dance was
uneventful except
for the part where she asked Marcel if she could take a
picture of them, which my son agreed to. Immediately after the dance,
Marcel thanked her, and excused himself since his 12
midnight curfew was
fast approaching. He and his classmate B (name withheld) proceeded to
exit the dance hall to meet four other classmates who were already at the
parking area.
Three meters from the exit, two teen-aged boys came out of the hall
together with Ms. A, the girl Marcel just danced with, blaringly asking, “
Sino ang nangbastos sa pinsan ko? Kayo ba? Kayo ba?” It seems that, Ms. A
pointed out my son to the two boys, wilfully or otherwise, prompting them
to pull his shoulder and start punching him on the head, which caused a
laceration and
multiple hematoma. The two boys shouted invectives at
Marcel (e.g. “Sabihin mo sa nanay mo, malansa ang kaniyang puk_”, “pu__
ina mo, gusto mo mamatay?”, etc.) and
repeatedly slapped him. After a
while, the group of three had swelled to five (5). They were joined by
other boys (names withheld). A few seconds more, and the crowd had
expanded to around twenty (20), arm to arm, they formed a circle around my
son. They continued to punch, slap, insult and spit at my defenceless son.
One of them even ordered him to kneel down and apologize, which he did,
even if he knew he was not guilty of anything, if only to stop the
beating. After his apology, he was punched hard on the mouth, causing a
cut on the lower lip, and three front teeth to turn mobile.
There were
big bodied bouncers hired during the party, and some village
guards manning the gates. Neither of them lifted a finger to help my son.
All they uttered was “Tama na yan.”
The lone defender of Marcel was a
school mate, Boy B (name withheld), who at that instant, lived out the
Atenean dictum of “being a man for others”. At the expense of enduring a
few blows himself, he pleaded with the boys and tried to convince them
that they have the wrong guy, and that Marcel was a good boy, incapable of
the accusation they were throwing at him. The mauling miraculously
stopped for around 15 seconds (probably around the same time I was praying
for him) which gave another brave classmate the chance to grab then bloody
Marcel by the arm and pull him out of the circle of tormentors. They ran
for it and left in a car with their other classmates who were too stunned
and
traumatized themselves. Minutes after escaping the assailants, Marcel
continued receiving phone calls through his mobile phone, wherein he was
harassed and taunted. The
calls and text have persisted until a week ago.
After our preliminary investigation, we discovered that the aggressors are
members of TGF or “The Good Fraternity”, a loose group of high school
students (boys and a few girls) who frequent the party scene, SOME of whom
are reputed to be bullies, war freaks, alcoholics, possibly drug users,
and carriers of deadly weapons such as guns, knives, tasers, etc.
Apparently, some of them use this strategy of bullying helpless-looking
boys in the guise of being gallant men saving a damsel in distress for
having been “disrespected”. The exact same scenario by the same people
happened to a fellow Atenean at a different party a few weeks earlier.
Many other boys from other schools have experienced beating from the same
group for the
most senseless reason as having been ogled at or having
flexed biceps and triceps to the annoyance of the bullies.
What happened to Marcel was a nightmare not only to him but to ourselves
as parents. My husband who is working in Canada can only cry in
helplessness at not having been around to defend or at the very least
comfort him.
I cannot sleep soundly knowing that our sons and daughters are prone to
being swallowed by profligacy. Did you parents know that kids nowadays
dance “spooning” style? Did you know that there are mobile bars for rent
that serve “mocktails” or full fledged cocktails and beer in bubble
containers to our young teen-agers unmindful of the alcohol prohibition
for minors (ask Sober Club, Elation, Party Fuel, Club Fishbone, Booze,
Event Shaker, On the Rocks, etc.). I even heard that open parties are now
being used by pushers as their market for mood altering wares. I didn’t
even know that the Greenmeadows party that Marcel attended was entitled
“Lust”, which is one of a series of seven parties named after the seven
deadly sins. I was shocked at having found out the organizers’ preference
for their party names.
I have vowed to make this an advocacy. We are filing a
complaint with the
authorities about the matter, not only to seek justice for my son, but to
stop this culture of violence and immorality among the youth.
I would have wanted to treat this as privately and as quietly as I can but
recent developments have forced me to do otherwise. I came across this
blog site which made my stomach turn at seeing how insensitive, frivolous,
and unprincipled the authors of this entry and its supporters are. Log on
and read for yourselves:
http://c24others. multiply. com/journal/ item/40/Read_ this
Rumors are spreading like wildfire and the ugly misinformation is causing
yet another trauma on my son. Some rumors are going around
about his
being too drunk to have control of himself, thus the molestation. To
correct the defamation being spread, and to give these STOYA boys who
have
a lot of growing up to do a piece of my mind, allow me categorically say
that:
1) My son NEVER molested anyone and we can prove this to the hilt.
The bloggers didn’t even give him the benefit of the doubt by adding the
world “allegedly”. They wrote it as if it were a fact. Instead of
supporting your fellow Atenean, you are pushing him towards the furnace by
spreading this lie.
2) My son, who, for one week after the assault,
endured nightmares
and anxiety attacks over possible retaliatory acts by perceived
sympathetic blue blooded members of TGF NEVER squealed on any
one to the
APSA. He bore his psychological injuries which far outweighed the
physical wounds with dignity and bravery. He never even brought up the
incident with his football coach who benched him during two crucial games
for having missed a week’s practice clueless that Marcel was waiting for
the contusions on his head to heal. For all I know, he was also possibly
avoiding aggressive tussling, inevitable in the sport, which might stir
fearsome memories. He felt so down but didn’t want his coach to think he
was making excuses for his absences.
3) I never complained verbally, or in writing, to
APSA regarding what
happened to my son knowing that STOYA per se, is not the enemy. I simply
wrote a letter of excuse for Marcel’s two-day absence while
he was
recovering from the trauma.
4) I never accused STOYA of harassment when they approached Marcel in
an effort to convince me to tell Mr. Dennis Dator of their innocence
regarding the mauling. I simply felt that it is futile to make that
appointment since I never filed a complaint against them in the first
place.
5) To say that “it can only take ONE person to destroy a party. All
he/she needs to do is to tell his/her parents to call up
the school, name
names and say drugs or what not has been going around” reeks of a
distorted sense of values. It’s as if parties are the
end all and be all
of life’s existence. Never mind if a person gets hurt...the show must go
on! Besides, I never did what they accuse me of doing.
6) Do you honestly think that this line “The police can always be
ordered to go to a party to end it” is preventive or is it a curative
solution to a done disaster which only takes a few minutes to happen?
Hunky bouncers and security guards were around when Marcel was beaten up.
What good did they do?
7) From STOYA: “Pucha, everyday people DIE due
to far more worse
(sic) incidents than mere fist fights and now people start making this
such a HUGE deal since it happened to someone
close to them?”
Response: What if the blow on Marcel’s head were a tad stronger than they
were causing brain damage? Would that be big deal enough to warrant your
attention?
8) From STOYA: “don't call us insensitive and immoral for
promoting
alcohol under the age of 18. You've never had a shot of vodka or a cold
glass of beer? Don't be a hypocrite and lie. It's part of high
school”
Response: The law is the law and it was created for a reason, and it is
meant to be adhered to, otherwise suffer penalties.
9) “Also, It's the parents' choice to allow their children to
go and
do these things so if you
have a problem with parties, don't allow your
children”
Response: Parents unwittingly allow their children to attend these
parties without the knowledge of the imminent dangers that abound in such
parties, thus, my cause of letting it be known. No matter how well we try
to raise our children, they sometimes make the wrong, stubborn choices and
succumb to peer pressure thinking that what is prevalent is “cool”, or is
acceptable.
10) STOYA, your entrepreneurial spirit is partly admirable. “Dreams of
creating seven parties in 10
months”. However, if your ventures are money
making, may I ask if you give out receipts to your patrons? Do you pay
taxes to the
BIR? Maybe this is another angle worth looking at.
Dear STOYA boys and supporters, I hope you broaden your minds a little bit
more and see where concerned school authorities and parents are coming
from. You, our dear boys are gifts from God entrusted to us for guidance
and moulding. Our commitment to our Maker, and to the Giver of life is to
lead you back to Him in life eternity. It’s true that life is full of
risks, that life is well lived if freedom abounds, and that it is
important to stand by what we believe in. But as graduating students of a
highly reputable Catholic school for which your parents toil hard to make
your enrolment possible, I would
have hoped that you had loftier beliefs
that you would adamantly fight for. Year in, year out, you learn in CLE
that free will
has its limitations. As minors your care rests on those
who are supposedly more ripe in wisdom. If we can shield you from as much
pain, suffering and harm as we can, we will do so by all means because
that is an expression of LOVE. You may sulk all you want but take it like
a man. Like you all said, you will be adults in a few months time anyway.
Start acting like one!
Yours truly,
MRS. CELINE PIEZAS
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