The Philippine National Police on Monday denied accusations of police harassment during the first day of school at the President Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Barangay Batasan Hills, Quezon City.
A report of the PNP said what happened was that a group of people asked the Quezon City Police District to allow them to distribute alcohol and school supplies near the gate of the school.
However, members of the group suddenly produced streamers and placards where their protest messages were written, threatening to trigger vehicular traffic jams in the area.
It was at that point that the QCPD dispatched its members to contain and stop the protest action.
“Despite our diplomatic efforts, the protesters refused to leave. Peace and order should be kept in a learning environment,” P/Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, QCPD chief, said.
“Our personnel had to confiscate the streamers and placards because they didn’t heed our request,” Torre added.
On the first day of schoolyear 2022-2023, school officials in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela said there were enough teachers but that the classrooms are lacking.
Navotas National High School principal Dr. Marco Meduranda said during Daily Tribune’s digital show Gising Na! that Balik-Eskwela 2022 proved a success in their school with 4,600 learners.
He said there were 800 students during the morning shift who benefited from the close coordination between the school, the PNP, barangay officials and parents. There were 168 teachers at the school.
“We were able to follow the health protocols while we were doing the flag raising ceremony and, in fact, our division supervisors and city chief Mayor John Rey Tiangco visited our classrooms and checked the situation of our students here at NNHS,” Medura said.
He said that in the previous school year, they had 4,483 enrollees compared to Monday’s 4,626.
“When it comes to the ratio of students versus classrooms, our ideal is 35 students to one classroom,” he added.