Teachers Breaking the Code of

Ethics for Professional Teachers

PRESENTED BY: CRISTY BAGONGON
Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers

• A professional code of ethics outlines teachers' main

responsibilities to their students and defines their role in
students' lives. Above all, teachers must demonstrate integrity,
impartiality and ethical behaviour in the classroom and in
their conduct with parents and co-workers.
Article XII: Disciplinary Action
• Section 1: Any violation of any provision of this Code shall be sufficient
ground for the imposition against the erring of disciplinary action.
Consisting of revocation of his Certificate of Registration and License
as Professional Teacher, suspension form the practice of the teaching
profession, reprimand. Or cancellation of his temporary/special permit
under causes specified in Sec. 23, Article III o R.A No 7836, and under
Rule 31. Article VIII of the Rules and Regulations Implementing R.A
No. 7836
PRC Suspends Teachers for Swindle

• The professional regulation commission (PRC) has started the

suspension of around 300 public school teachers who gypped a
teachers’ association.

• The suspension order was based on the complaints lodged by the

Tarlac Public School Teachers Association, Inc. (TPSTAI) at the PRC.
PRC Suspends Teachers for Swindle

• TPSTAI President Sheryll Abril said the organization was forced to file
complaints against their fellow teachers because they deliberately
ignored their loan debts with the TPSTAI.

• Aside from the 300 teachers, PRC has yet to decide on another 700
complaints against teachers also filed by TPSTAI.
Abril told reporters at the TPSTAI satellite office in
Quezon City.

• “It is timely that the incoming administration will increase the salary of
teachers because some of them have tarnished the good image of their
profession by deliberately evading their loan obligations and
fraudulently faking documents and ATM cards which they submit as
collaterals to financial managers like TPSTAI,”
PRC Suspends Teachers for Swindle

• She also revealed that many cases of estafa and ATM fraud, which
extremely affected TPSTAI’s operations, were filed against teachers in
different courts.

• The latest among the 300 suspended teachers from the Department of
Education in Region 4A were Marie Jeanne Ayson of Tayuman
Elementary School, in Binangonan, Rizal and Ma. Susie Colcol of Teresa
Elementary School in Dalig, Teresa, Rizal.
PRC Suspends Teachers for Swindle

• According to Abril, Ayson and Colcol not only evaded their loan
obligations but also faked the ATM cards they submitted as collaterals
to TPSTAI.

• The PRC suspended Ayson and Colcol for three months each for

violation of the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers.

PRC Suspends Teachers for Swindle

• In the four-page PRC decision, Ayson and Colcol were asked to return
their licenses or Certificates of Registration and Professional
Identification Cards.

• They were also strongly warned that a repetition of similar misconduct

will be dealt with more severe penalties or their licenses will be totally
cancelled and they could no longer practice their profession.
PRC Suspends Teachers for Swindle
• The head of Legal Department of TPSTAI, Socorro Guatlo, also said
that TPSTAI is seriously contemplating to bring the controversy to the
Senate for the lawmakers to conduct a thorough investigation on the
issue
Teachers Cannot Inflict Corporeal Punishment

• One morning, the victim, a 14-year-old high-school student, was

attending his class at the school basketball court where the accused, a
public school teacher, was also conducting his Music, Arts, Physical
Education and Health class for third year students.

• Along with some of his classmates, the victim joined the third year
students who were practicing basketball shots. The accused then
instructed his class to form two lines. The victim, thinking that three
lines were to be formed, stayed in between the two lines
Teachers Cannot Inflict Corporeal Punishment

• Without warning, the accused held his right arm and punched his stomach for
failing to follow instructions. As a result, the victim sustained a contusion
hematoma and was confined in the hospital for three days.

• The victim filed an administrative complaint against the accused before the
Civil Service Commission-Cordillera Administrative Region (CSC-CAR) and a
criminal case before with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) for Less Serious
Physical Injury.
Teachers Cannot Inflict Corporeal Punishment

• Before the CSC-CAR, the accused denied the charges against him and
claimed that he had merely scolded the accused for failing to follow his
instructions. He offered sworn statements of other student to prove that
he did not punch the victim.

• While the proceedings of the administrative case were ongoing, the RTC
found the accused guilty of the offense of slight physical injury and
sentenced him to imprisonment ranging from 11 to 20 days.
Teachers Cannot Inflict Corporeal Punishment
• The CSC-CAR found him guilty of simple misconduct and suspended him for six
(6) months. It held that the accused clearly transgressed the proper norms of
conduct required of a public official aggravated by the seriousness of the
resulting injury.

• On appeal before the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the CSC modified the
decision of its regional arm. It found the accused guilty of grave misconduct and
dismissed him from the service. It noted that the accused did not question his
conviction for the crime of slight physical injuries, which was based on the same
set of facts and circumstances and involved the same parties and issues.
Teachers Cannot Inflict Corporeal Punishment

• Because the Court of Appeals sustained the CSC resolution, the

accused brought his case to the Supreme Court (SC). He argued that
assuming that he did box the victim, he was not motivated by bad faith
to warrant a finding for grave misconduct. He merely acted on the
belief that, as a teacher, he was exercising authority over the victim in
loco parentis, i.e., in place of a parent, and was within his right to
discipline his student.
“The SC upheld the finding of grave misconduct, but tempered the penalty
to suspension since there was sufficient provocation on the part of the
victim. Section 8, Article VIII of the Code of Ethics of Professional
Teachers provides that “a teacher shall not inflict corporal punishment on
offending learners.”