The Department of Justice Action Center (DOJAC) and prosecution offices nationwide can now receive complaints involving bullying following the issuance of a memorandum by Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida.
Justice Undersecretary Ian Norman Dato, chairperson of the DOJ Law Enforcement Cluster, said the measure gives bullying victims and their parents an additional avenue to seek government assistance aside from the schools and the Department of Education (DepEd), which remains primarily responsible for handling such incidents.
He said Vida signed the memorandum after meeting with 18 regional prosecutors in Clark last week, where the Justice Secretary stressed the need to provide victims and their parents an avenue to be heard by an appropriate government agency.
“The department order more than anything affords victims and their parents an outlet or a chance to be heard by an appropriate government agency,” Dato said.
Dato said victims and their parents may still seek assistance from DepEd, which has primary responsibility for addressing and resolving bullying incidents in schools.
“But in addition and to lay an additional framework to help curb apparently increasing incidents of anti-bullying, then the facilities of the entire Department of Justice are laid before parents or the victims or parents to ventilate or resolve their complaints,” he said.
The memorandum was issued about three weeks ago, Dato said.
Complaints may be brought before the DOJAC, which has a presence in nine regions, or through the National Prosecution Service (NPS), which has 249 offices across the country.
“The offices within the Department of Justice that are naturally the recipient of those complaints or have been tasked to receive and evaluate those complaints are the Department of Justice Action Center, which has presence in nine regions, and of course our built-in mechanism of the National Prosecution Service, which have 249 offices all over the country,” Dato said.
The DOJ offices may evaluate the complaints, provide appropriate assistance or refer them to the proper agencies depending on the circumstances of each case.
Dato said the initiative is intended to strengthen the government’s response to bullying by making the DOJ’s resources more accessible to victims and their families.#