School is withholding diplomas of six high school boys who uploaded photos that appear to show them kissing each other
A Philippine Catholic school is withholding the diplomas of six high school boys who uploaded Facebook photos that appear to show them kissing each other, an education official said on Friday.
A day earlier, a Philippine court rejected another Catholic school's decision to bar five girls from graduation ceremonies because they had posed in bikinis for photos posted on Facebook. The cases test the limits of privacy in a conservative Catholic country that is also among the world's most prolific users of social networking sites.
A department of education officer, Samuel Mergenio, said that the six boys told him they had taken prank photos to make it appear that their lips touched. One of the boys uploaded the pictures on Facebook and mistakenly made them available to others, Mergenio said.
The pictures were not taken at the boys' school, an academy in the Manila suburb of Marikina, but the students were wearing school uniforms, he said.
Mergenio said the school's chancellor informed the department late on Thursday that the boys would be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremonies but the release of their diplomas would be delayed. He said the school did not say when the diplomas would be handed over and that he was awaiting a formal written report from the school.
The school chancellor was not immediately available for comment.
On Thursday, a judge in Cebu issued a restraining order against another high school, ordering it to allow the five students who appeared in the bikini photos to take part in Friday afternoon's graduation ceremonies.
The school, which declined to comment, asked the court to reconsider. The girls' lawyer, Cornelio Mercado, said on Friday that the school was still insisting on banning the students while its motion for reconsideration was pending.
Mercado said one Facebook photo showed a girl holding a cigarette and a bottle of alcohol, while others showed all five girls wearing bikinis at a beach party early this year.
School officials took action against the girls for what they called "engaging in immoral, indecent, obscene or lewd acts", according to court records. They said the students would graduate but could not participate in activities or ceremonies.
Earlier this month, the five girls were summoned by the principal and other school officials, "dressed down" and called "sluts" for their Facebook pictures, Mercado said.
The judge, Wilfredo Navarro of the regional trial court, castigated school officials for calling the girls "inappropriate names" and said the students had gone through "a psychologically and emotionally devastating experience". He said not allowing them to participate in graduation activities "would indeed be most un-Christian if not entirely inhuman".
The mother of one girl had petitioned the court on behalf of her daughter. Mercado said the ruling applied to all five.
He said the families had filed charges against the school and school officials of "grave oral defamation" and illegal use of photos showing minors.
He alleged that the school officials had illegally obtained the pictures because they were not Facebook friends of the girls and were not allowed access.