04/09/2026
Personal Statement of Tabuk City Mayor Darwin C. Estraรฑero, A Plea to Stop Bullying in All Schools
Today, I join the people of Baguio City and the Province of Kalinga, speaking with urgency and moral clarity to condemn, without hesitation, the viral bullying and mauling incident outside Pinget National High School in Barangay Pinget, Baguio City, on August 26, 2026.
What happened is not โpeer conflict.โ It is not a joke. It is cruelty. A group of Grade 9 and Grade 10 students cornered a fellow learner and repeatedly punched, kicked, and struck him with a metal-buckled belt, while others watched and filmed. When bullying turns into violence, there can be no excuses. Everyone, students, families, teachers, and school communities, must take a firm stand.
To the families, friends, and classmates of the victim, and to our entire community, your anger is justified and your demand for justice is right.
Bullying destroys safety, peace of mind, and confidence, especially when it escalates into physical harm. No learner should have to endure fear inside or outside school grounds.
In our schools, this must stop. To every school, teacher, parent, and student in Tabuk City, Baguio City, and all across our communities, we must take action to stop bullying in all schools, in corridors, classrooms, online, and anywhere children gather. No one should fear going to school.
Bystanders must not laugh, record, or stay silent. They must report what they know and what they have witnessed. Educators and school personnel, in turn, must act early and with seriousness, listening to reports, investigating promptly, and ensuring that responsible steps are taken to protect learners.
Crucially, school authorities should know whether students are being bullied, and they must also recognize when students are acting as bullies. Safety cannot be optional. Schools have a duty to strictly ensure the well-being of their learners, and to respond consistently from the first warning signs to confirmed incidents.
Equally important is accountability. Bullies must not be normalized, excused, or treated as โjust kids.โ Their acts must be condemned clearly and decisively. They should be reprimanded, and when the evidence shows serious wrongdoing, they must face the harshest punishment provided under the law.
Parents and guardians also play a key role. We must ask what values are being taught at home, and how children are being guided to respect others. Bullying is not inherited, it is learned. And it can be unlearned when families consistently set boundaries, model empathy, and teach children that cruelty has consequences.
Let this be a clear message to every learner, every school and community, violence and bullying will not be tolerated in any school against any learner.
