In Caramoan, criminal charges are being readied against the teacher, Gener Versoza, 31, married with five children, who has virtually admitted to have impregnated a student who was a minor, who will soon deliver her baby. The victim graduated from Guijalo High School where she was a majorette only last March.
Informed of the scandal by concerned citizens, Schools Division Supt. Emma I. Cornejo promptly organized an investigating team composed of Sueño Lozada, Luz Prades and Sarah Godoy which will recommend appropriate administrative sanctions against Versoza.
How Supt. Cornejo will handle the problem is also being closely watched especially since Guijalo High School principal Candida Breis reportedly failed to report the scandal until concerned citizens wrote Supt. Cornejo.
Versoza may be charged for violation of the Child Abuse Act which carries a penalty of 12 to 20 years imprisonment, similar to the case that sent Congressman Romeo Jalosjos to prison for having sex with a minor even if the girl consented to having sex with the solon. Meanwhile, Fr. Joaquin Camano, Guijalo parish priest, said that aggrieved with what had happened Guijalo PTCA president Francisco Purisima had written Supt. Cornejo to initially relieve Versoza from school.Guijalo Barangay Captain Mario Teoxon said they are very much concerned about the case saying it would destroy the reputation of the school and cause distrust among parents.
At least two well-known Naga City lawyers who asked not to be named for the meantime have volunteered to provide free legal services should any relative or even a non-relative of the victim decide to file a criminal case against Versoza.
Violation of the Child Abuse Act being a public crime, parents or relatives of the victim may not necessarily initiate the filing of the criminal case and any citizen scandalized by the act can cause the filing of the criminal case.
The victim thinking she had no one to turn to had reportedly entered into a private agreement witnessed by a town official who also asked not to be named yet, wherein Versoza pledged to give Php 1,500 a month as support to the victim and her baby starting June, 2007.
But the agreement will not at all extinguish nor diminish the criminal and administrative liability of Versoza and only serve as evidence of his admission as father of the victim’s baby now about to be born, the town official who acted as witness in the private agreement warned Versoza.
The agreement itself, a ploy believed to have been made thinking Versoza could avoid the consequences of his act, is difficult to implement because Versoza’s monthly net take home pay is only Php 3,500 which would leave his family of five children with only Php 2,000 a month.
Even if the agreed support of Php 1,500 a month is given the criminal and administrative liability of Versoza remains the same.
The victim and her mother, may have signed the agreement due to poverty and opted to suffer the stigma and public condemnation, barriomates said.
Learning of the incident, several civic leaders have intimated to PENINSULA MONITOR they could provide the victim financial assistance much more than what Versoza pledged should she and her parents stand up for their rights.
Those who took interest in the case said if this act is tolerated more and more school teachers would be emboldened to commit abuses against their students.
The Versoza case is actually the third sex scandal to hit Guijalo High School alone according to Fr. Camano.
Earlier, a lady school teacher incurred the ire of community leaders for having a live-in partner. Pressed to get married or leave the school the couple opted to be married.
Another male teacher in the same school was almost in the same predicament as Versoza but marriage solemnized only last Saturday, July 28, may have mitigated but not totally solved his problem.
The teacher, a widower, had a relationship with his student also a minor, which was also the talk of the campus until he decided to marry the girl who had just also graduated from Guijalo High School.
It is not, however, known whether marriage would totally absolve him of the administrative responsibility for having sexual relationship with a student who was then also still a minor.
