DLSU student gov’t takes action vs officer for involvement in lewd online exchange exposed by Sunshine Cruz

July 14, 2020 - 1:02 PM
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This composite photo shows the facade of De La Salle University building in Manila and actress Sunshine Cruz. (Philstar.com/File; Instagram.com/Sunshine Cruz)

The Business College Government of the De La Salle University said that it would hold one of its officers accountable after finding out that he was one of the online users whom actress Sunshine Cruz called out for posting lewd comments about her and her daughters.

The incident supposedly happened two years ago, but it resurfaced after one of the actress’ daughters, Samantha, took to Twitter to speak up against the supposed sexual predators of her mom and their youngest sister from their own school.

Samantha shared screenshots of an online exchange among male individuals who wrote malicious comments on a Facebook post and added that she only saw it recently.

“Just saw this now but this was posted in a dibs page 2 years ago for my sister’s prom. She let this pass but I won’t. This will never be okay. The fact that I know some of these people is scary,” Samantha tweeted.

She also expressed her disgust since her sister, who she claimed was only 12-years-old at that time, was “sexualized” as well.

The male individuals were reportedly schoolmates of the Cruz daughters at the De La Salle Santiago Zobel School.

Sunshine also shared the screenshots on her Twitter account and dared them to utter the same words in person.

Sunshine also earlier called out Facebook pages that posts lewd comments on her and her daughters.

“If this is right, I don’t know what’s wrong anymore,” she said.

Social media users noted that one of the perpetrators in the leaked online exchange is already studying in DLSU-Manila and is an officer of the student government of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business (RVR-COB). This led them to tag accounts of the college, as well as RVR-COB’s student government page.

On Monday, the DLSU Business College Government (BCG) released a statement addressing the misconduct of one of its officers tagged in the online exchange.

It said that while the officer “has since released an apology statement” about the incident, DLSU BCG will still hold him accountable for his actions.

“The comments made do not in any way reflect the values of the Business College Government. We will not let this undermine the reforms that we have pushed for — reforms for a better culture, for better anti-sexual harassment and discrimination guidelines, and for safe spaces,” BCG said.

It continued that it will remain “steadfast” in its goal to stop misogynistic behavior and educate the community in terms of such matters.

[BCG President's Statement on Misogynistic and Sexual Comments made by a BLAZE 2022 Officer]

Posted by DLSU Business College Government on Monday, July 13, 2020

 

No tolerance 

The school earlier axed a longtime faculty member, Claro Ganac, who had insinuated in a social media post that Sen. Risa Hontiveros should be sexually harassed by New Bilibid Prison inmates.

The lawmaker was sharing her comments against a controversial Facebook post of a municipal police station that warned women against wearing sexy clothes since they might get “raped.”

RELATED: DLSU fires faculty member after insinuating that Risa Hontiveros should be raped by Bilibid inmates

Hontiveros, who is the chair of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, slammed the warning and said that rape does not take dress codes into account.

“There is no dress code for rape. Or for sexual harassment. Instead of teaching women how to dress, we should teach men not to rape,” she said.

Ganac shared a social media card featuring her comments and said that she should “teach the prisoners in Bilibid prison NOT to rape” in a “closed-door session.”

DLSU said that his teaching contract will not be renewed following the incident.