What happens when a teacher and her student fall in love with each other?
Let me tell you about the unique love story of a lady teacher with her student in the case Chua-Qua vs Clave 189 SCRA 117. The case was about an affair and marriage of 30 years old teacher Evelyn Chua in Tay Tung High School in Bacolod City to her 16 years old student, Mr. Bobby Qua. The lady teacher was suspended without pay and was terminated of her employment “for Abusive and Unethical Conduct Unbecoming of a Dignified School Teacher” which was filed against her by the School. For the school authorities, the marriage of Evelyn Chua, then a classroom teacher, to her student who was fourteen (14) years her junior, was sufficient basis for terminating her services. In short, when the lady teacher married her student, she got fired.
Do you think the story stops there? No. The lady teacher questioned in the court why she was dismissed from her job just because she fell in love with her student and married him.The case went on to the Supreme Court.
The good news is the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Evelyn, declaring:
...[the school] utterly failed to show that petitioner [30-year old lady teacher] took advantage of her position to court her student [16-year old].
"If the two eventually fell in love, despite the disparity (difference) in their ages and academic levels, this only lends substance to the truism (obvious truth) that the heart has reasons of its own which reason does not know. But, definitely, yielding to this gentle and universal emotion is not to be so casually equated with immorality. The deviation of the circumstances of their marriage from the usual societal pattern cannot be considered as a defiance of contemporary social mores.”
The bad news is this case happened in 1976. With the present laws that we have, it is difficult to find a similar or even same story such as this. In 1998, the case of Santos vs. NLRC G.R. No. 115795 opened with this statement:
"It is to state the obvious that schools, next only to the home, wield a weighty influence upon the students, especially during the latters' formative years, for it instills in them the values and mores which shall prepare them to discharge their rightful responsibilities as mature individuals in society. At the vanguard (frontliner) in nurturing their growth are the teachers who are directly charged with rearing and educating them. As such, a teacher serves as a role model for his students. Corollarily, he must not bring the teaching profession into public disrespect or disgrace..."
...For failure to live up to the exacting moral standards demanded by his/her profession, any erring teacher might be dismissed from his/her employment on the ground of immorality...
My dear friends in Christ, in this campus, instead of dreaming for a romantic love story, why not established a loving atmosphere where both teaching and learning are conducive? I say conducive for both teaching and learning because this campus is not only a community of students but also of teachers.
Let me address this first to the students: we know that this campus is conducive for learning when students are willing to learn rather than to play some online games in a nearby computer shop or to waste their time with their peers in sorting to vices like drinking liquor, smoking, taking prohibited drugs, etc. Though it is not good on my part, but I have to confess to all of you about this. One of my nephews studied here. He enrolled as a college freshman. After five years or more, he was never fresh as he did not finish college. He loved and still loves hanging out with his brothers in the fraternity. So, do I have to blame the school authorities about the plight of my prodigal nephew? Of course not!!! This campus can be conducive for learning not because of the teachers or school authorities but because of the students themselves who have their dreams for themselves and for their family. Take this from me. In 2001, I was a newly ordained priest at that time yet I enrolled in this same campus to take my masteral, Master in Public Administration. I had to travel every Saturday and even Sunday from Numancia, Aklan where I was assigned to this campus in Banga, Aklan where I took my Master in Public Administration (MPA). The most difficult subject I had was Statistics. Statistics made me think of giving up my academic pursuits. However, the willingness to finish what I started was within my body, my mind and my spirit. It was not the professor but I myself who made this campus conducive for my learning. I learned and passed Statistics as a subject and finally received my diploma in this place where we celebrate our mass today.
Now, let me address this to the Faculty and Staff, teachers and professors or school authorities in general: we know that this campus is conducive for teaching when teachers are willing to teach their students. There can be many reasons for teachers to willingly teach. But let me tell you this, a teacher who enjoys seeing how he or she has influenced the life of his or her students to be better is one who is willing to teach despite the odds on his or her way. I remember when I gave a seminar for Faculty and Staff, teachers and professors at ASU Ibajay, Aklan some years ago, a lady teacher voiced out her problem by asking me what is the use of teaching well with the low salary she received. I immediately gave my answer based on my own personal experience as a teacher that I would not allow my students to suffer from poor education just because of my poor salary as a teacher. I love teaching and no amount of money can compensate my love for teaching as a profession. Two or three years after I gave that seminar, that lady teacher left the campus in Ibajay.
To end, allow me to give emphasis on the words of Jesus, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 12: 1-8) in relation to all what I have said to you. Human as we are we commit mistakes. Each of us has his or her own share of failures in life. Students who at first are willing to learn and teachers who at first are willing to teach sometimes face a difficult moment of their life. Great challenges and problems in life made them lose their appetite either to learn or to teach. Some female students become pregnant in the time they are unprepared to become mothers. Some male students love cutting classes in search for a drinking spree. Some teachers become exhausted or tired of teaching the same subjects. Other teachers suffered from physicall illness or sickness that changed their outlook in life affecting the way they teach too. All these situations show our limitations as human beings. They tell us that there is something wrong somewhere somehow. It is on these situations that we have to say what Jesus said -I desire mercy. Mercy means to give love to someone even when he or she is undeserving of our love. When we show mercy, we do it as part of building a loving atmosphere where both teaching and learning are conducive. Let me point out to you the case of Michael Prince del Rosario, the topnotcher of the latest LET in the secondary level. He admitted his addiction with an online game forced him to drop out of school. In other words, he did not go to Hign School. Through the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Alternative Learning System program, he was given the opportunity to get a high school diploma. This involved reviewing a module in order to pass an exam to get a diploma that would make him eligible to enter college. This is an act of mercy on the part of DepEd which makes teacher willing to teach and thus students like Del Rosario are willing to learn. Now, Del Rosario, a learner who becomes a teacher said, "Para mai-share ko naman 'yung experience ko noong high school ako, para marami ring maging katulad ko na noong una nadapa, noong una nagkamali, noong una parang wala nang pupuntahan, pero nakakabangon at nakakabangon basta may pangarap.”
(I want to share my experience in high school so that there will be more people like me, who in the past fell, made a mistake and had no direction, but is now thriving because of a dream.)
This my dear friends is the concrete example of desiring for mercy and not sacrifice. Let us show the same in this campus. As long as a student has a dream for himself or herself, as long as teachers have a dream for their students, give love. If not, just show mercy. Amen.
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