For the past few days, I have been seeing a lot of my twitter friends reacting on this certain issue of a 16-year-old high school girl who won’t be allowed to attend her graduation ceremony for posing in a bikini and posting the photo in her Facebook account. According to several news, St. Theresa's College High School imposed such punishment for violating provisions in the school's Student Handbook which includes a rule against “posing and uploading pictures on the Internet that entail ample body exposure”.
“STC is a Catholic school governed by the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have to see to it that values are formed,” Lawyer Romeo Balili, counsel for STC told reporters after the hearing. Moreover, Balili said the private school is just doing what is right in disciplining its students. (Mayol, A.V., Cebu Daily News, March 28, 2012, http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/168441/high-school-girl-banned-from-graduation-over-facebook-bikini-photo)
Now, the issue is “Whether the punishment imposed by the school is valid and just?”
Though a school has the power to supervise, control and to make sure that each and every student in the campus complies with the school rules, I believe that it is not applicable in this case. First and foremost, the high school girl’s photo in bikini was taken during an outing and NOT a school activity. This simply means that it is not within the jurisdiction of the school. Second point, wearing a bikini doesn’t automatically mean that it is immoral, indecent, obscene or lewd. If the school is equating such photo to immorality, then does it also mean that those who wear bikini in beaches is immoral? Indecent? Don’t you think that it’s a bit exaggerated? As defined under the Merriam Webster Dictionary, IMMORAL means “conflicting with generally or traditionally held moral principles” and INDECENT means “grossly improper or offensive; inappropriate”. Now, given these definitions, it seems to me that the school is saying that posting a photo in bikini is conflicting with the generally held moral principles. Is it? And that it is grossly improper or inappropriate. Again, is it? Is wearing a bikini in a beach or resort improper? If that’s the case, then I guess everyone should wear a “Baro’t Saya” in beaches/resorts so that it would not be immoral and indecent. Wouldn’t they look so stupid? Third point, should a school policy prevail over a person’s cardinal right? Our 1987 Constitution, Article 3 (Bill of Rights) Section 4 to be specific, clearly and strictly prohibits the abridging of the people’s right to freedom of expression, speech and of the press. If the school’s policy would prevail over this provision in our Constitution, does it mean that a school rule is supreme than our law? If that is the case, then the essence of the 1987 Constitution as being the supreme law of the land would be futile.
Personally, I believe that the punishment imposed by the school is not valid and unjust. This is clearly tantamount to a violation of a person’s cardinal right which is protected under the Constitution. Ergo, the punishment imposed by STC is too harsh. Besides, the high school girl has her freedom of expression and that is by wearing a bikini in a family-related outing. Who are we to abridge her fundamental right? Every action must be justified and supported with legal basis so that we can easily defend such action if questioned by anyone.
