Teachers say Tejero now into harassment

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent

A CITY Central School teacher has accused the principal of the region’s most populous public school of harassing his subordinates even as another hurled brickbats at the school official for dragging him into a motel scandal now hounding his superior.

Teacher Gemma Arrabis went to the police in Divisoria and placed on record that Dr. Tejero has allegedly been harassing her and other teachers.

The 51-year old Arrabis alleged that Dr. Tejero threatened her in front of other teachers and other school officials because he suspected that she was behind a petition for the principal’s ouster, and that her group was behind recent issues facing him.

Tejero has been charged with lascivious conduct and abuse of authority before the City Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of the Ombudsman, respectively, by the mother of a 5th grader who claimed the principal brought her to a motel where he allegedly tried to become intimate with her in May.

Arrabis alleged that an angry Tejero confronted her and told her: “Naa ka’y tulubagon.You must be ready to sacrifice your profession, and your family.”

She said Tejero has been blaming teachers to be behind the controversy and other issues being tackled in the media.

“Dili siya healthy para sa ako as a teacher. I hope dili tinuod ang tanan. Gani human nanggawas kini nga isyu iya akong gipatawag,” Arrabis said.

Anthony Ceballos, another teacher accused by Tejero during a Monday news conference of being behind the mother’s complaints, cried foul and urged the principal to “face his own battle in court, and don’t bring in others to the controversy.”

Ceballos, a 6th grade teacher, said, “Normally, kung tawo ma-apiki na sa iyang gihimo nga salaud i-point point na dayun niya sa uban. In the first place, iya man kadto nga kagustuhan ang nahitabo. Siya man ang nagdala sa babae. How come nga ako ang nag-mastermind?” Ceballos said.

He said he and the complainant are Facebook friends, and that her daughter used to be his student.

But Ceballos said these circumstances don’t prove anything.

“Siya ang nakasala, iya dayun ipahid sa uban. Ang akong mensahe lang para sa iya, kung magbuhat kita og sala, ayaw mo pagpa-picture. Moral issue is at stake here,” Ceballos said.

The complainant has a photo of her and Tejeros in a motel room where the principal allegedly grabbed and kissed her, and told her he wanted her to be his girlfriend.

Ceballos said he and other teachers were not in good terms with Tejero but their disagreements were limited only to school affairs.

Ceballos said he and other teachers have nothing to do with the motel scandal, and the complaints filed by an outsider.

Tejero, during a news conference, admitted that he brought Trixie (not her real name) to Resonance motel (formerly Renaissance) along Kauswagan highway where they, supposedly, just talked and had beer and French fries.

At the same time, Tejero accused Ceballos of being behind his legal troubles. He said a group wanted him out because he introduced reforms.

Tejero also said that Ceballos’s group had an ax to grind against him because  it lost control of the school canteen.

Ceballos, according to Tejero, has been slapped with a string of administrative cases.

Aside from Ceballos, Tejero also mentioned an education official holding the item “Principal IV” and teachers involved in an alleged anomaly.