Teacher charged for slapping 8 students

December 3, 2015
URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan -- A 21-year-old newly-hired teacher of a private high school
here is facing cases of child abuse and grave threat for allegedly slapping eight students in her
class one after the other.

Superintendent Jeff Fanged, chief of Urdaneta City police station, identified the teacher as
Maricar Magtoto, a resident of Carmen East Rosales.

She was named respondents in complaints by Mark Christian Cruz, Marc Ryan Desamito,
Agabbu Saak Alarcio and Niko Andrew Balagot, with ages from 14 to 15 years old, all in third
year high school.

Fanged said the four students went to the police station last November 27 and reported their
teacher Magtoto for slapping them. The students sustained bruises, and this was confirmed later
in their medico legal examinations.

The students said there were actually eight of them who Magtoto slapped, adding that Magtoto
also uttered threats.

Based on investigation, the eight students reportedly bullied their female classmate, and this
angered Magtoto.

The school has filed an administrative case against Magtoto, while the police filed criminal
charges against her for violation of Republic Act 7610 or the Women and Child Abuse Act, as
well as for grave threat.

Magtoto underwent inquest procedure before the City Prosecutor's Office on Monday and
remained detained for failure to pay the recommended bail of P300,000.

Fanged said the parents of three students signified their intention to withdraw their complaint.

"But the case remains as the parents of one of the students are determined to pursue the case,"
said Fanged.

He said this is the first time a teacher within their jurisdiction was charged for hurting students.

"Once again, we remind our teachers to control their emotions and actions so as not to result in
cases like this, especially that we now have laws that protect students against such acts,” Fanged
said. (PNA)
Failon Ngayon
Posted at Aug 06 2011 01:40 AM | Updated as of Aug 08 2011 06:26 PM

In Tondo, Manila, students of the Antonio Luna Elementary School have also shared their stories
of a terror teacher named Elsie Ignacio.

According to a student, Teacher Ignacio would physically attack students with paper and pinches
just because they were giggling. Another student, “Rachelle”, got slapped in the face hard
because she spaced out during recitation. Not content with what she had done, Ignacio told
another student, “Justin” to slap Rachelle as well. For fear of getting himself slapped as well,
Justin had no choice but to comply with Ignacio and slap Rachelle.

Even the most behaved student of the class, Trixia, was not spared from Teacher Ignacio’s rage.
Ignacio cursed and yelled at Trixia while forcing her to admit to sending disparaging text
messages to Ignacio’s phone. Ignacio even threatened to sue Trixia for her alleged actions.
Because of the incident, Trixia’s classmates have started teasing her and accusing her of being a rude
person and this has greatly affected Trixia’s life in school even to the point that she feared having to
go to school.

Even teachers are not safe as Ms. Ruby Gomez, fell victim to Ignacio’s volatile demeanor.
According to Ms. Gomez, she and Ignacio got into a little argument regarding the Daily Time
Records or DTR when Ignacio started belittling and insulting Gomez because of her appearance.
After the incident, Ignacio’s husband stormed to the campus and confronted Gomez and then
Ignacio herself began to pull on Gomez’s hair in an altercation. When Gomez fought back,
Ignacio threw a bunch of keys at her, wounding her head.
FAILON NGAYON was able to get the side of Teacher Ignacio. She claims that she never laid a
hand on any of her students and never threatened any of them. She also states that it is in fact the
parents who have wronged her for immediately going to the media regarding her case instead of
speaking to her personally.

With regards to Ms Gomez’s allegations, Ignacio claims that Gomez is just jealous.
Conclusion

it was found that teachers were aware of

their responsibilities in preventing school violence; they

also felt responsible for the prevention of violence; and

they were knowledgeable on how to prevent violence.

However, they could not translate this knowledge into

action. This situations show that teachers need solution-

oriented and application-oriented studies. As such, there

is a need to have programs that could improve classroom

management that would give skills to teachers as how to

cope with violence.

After all, teachers are people who chose a career path that is dedicated to
helping people learn and grow. But sadly, there are a few terrible acts of
violence committed by teachers against the very pupils they were meant to
guide.