Philippines students refused graduation after posting lewd photos on Facebook

Manila: Five students in central Philippines contested the decision of their school to bar them from marching during their graduation rites on March 30, because they allegedly posted indecent acts on their Facebook accounts in early March, a paper in central Philippines said.

A 16-year old unidentified student of St. Theresa's College high school complained that she was "not given a chance to answer the allegations" that she was holding a cigarette and wore a two-piece bikini in a photo that she posted in her Facebook account, the girl's family lawyer Enrique Lacerna told Cebu Daily News.

She was not given a due process when she was sanctioned by the school last March 1, Lacerna said, adding the girl's mother who was not also identified asked the regional trial court of Cebu to issue a Temporary Restraining

Order (TRO) against school officials who were "too harsh and unjust" in making their decision.

She also asked for damages for the humiliation suffered by her daughter, the lawyer said,

Meanwhile, lawyer Cornelio Mercado asked the same court to stop the school from preventing four other students to march during their graduation rites.

"There were allegations (by school officials) that there were photos showing the (four) students wearing bikini tops and a towel during the Sinulog festival," Mercado said, adding the school also complained that one photo showed a student wearing sleeveless blouse that revealed her bra during the Sinulog festival.

Romeo Balili, the school's lawyer told Cebu Daily News, "STC is a Catholic school governed by the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have to see to it that values are formed (in our school)."

"We are not happy with the (school's) penalty but we are forced to impose it because we have to form the values of children," said Balili, adding the students violated the school's rules and tarnished its reputation.

The school's defense included a student handbook which listed offensive actions such as "possession of alcoholic drinks outside the school campus; engaging in immoral, indecent, obscene or lewd acts; smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages in public places; (wearing) apparel that exposes underwear; and posing and uploading pictures on the Internet that entail ample body exposure".

Judge Wilfredo Navarro asked for copies of the handbook and the alleged lewd photos of the students.