Bahaghari, a network of LGBTQIA+ organizations in the Philippines, released a list of anti-LGBTQIA+ allegations against the First City Providential College (FCPC) in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
Supposedly, students have been reporting of “alleged gender-based harassment and discrimination from officials and administrators of the said institution.”
In the early part of April 2025, LGBTQIA+ students from FCPC met with officers of Bahaghari to “share their harrowing stories of discrimination and abuse allegedly committed by FCPC staff, and to discuss possible legal and extralegal actions to resolve these cases”.
These allegations included:
- One student, Caramel, who shared in a viral post that they experienced harassment after reaching out to the school’s Discipline Office to report a separate incident of bullying. In the said meeting, instead of discussing the victim’s case, Caramel was reportedly told it was “unacceptable” that they were wearing eyeliner with the school uniform. The perpetrating school official then took photos of the victim without consent and blasted it on their Messenger group chat. When Caramel tried to protest what was happening, the perpetrator allegedly stated: “Kaya kitang i-expel on the spot”. Out of extreme fear and alienation, the victim dropped out of school. Currently, the victim claimed they are being harassed by numerous messages from alternate and anonymous accounts, which are suspected to be related to the perpetrator or the school admin.
- A transgender person was harassed for their long hair, and have their photos taken without consent. They also dropped out of the school due to exasperation and after being threatened that they will not be granted a good moral certificate simply because of how they sported their hair.
- A student who was once running for FCPC’s student council was told in an interview with the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) that LGBTQIA+ rights or gender equality should not be included in their electoral platform as it is not “applicable” to senior high school.
“We count at least 10 victims of gender-based discrimination and abuse in FCPC, with the acts allegedly spanning several years. The pattern is striking: after the discriminatory incidents, the victims are driven to drop from schooling – many of them becoming out of school youth like Caramel, who has not come to class for over 30 days already,” Bahaghari stated.
The organization claimed that it already repeatedly attempted to engage FCPC “in meaningful dialogue”, but the institution “has refused to respond”.
“We have reason to believe these incidents are not isolated, and part of a recurring cycle of impunity and lack of clear policies in place to prevent gender-based discrimination especially when it comes to students’ hair and uniforms on campus,” Bahaghari stated.
Bahaghari stressed that it “stands in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ students in FCPC who bravely reported these incidents to our office, and vows to assist them in attaining healing and justice”, adding that “our lines remain open to officials and administrators of FCPC for a sincere dialogue to address these alleged cases of discrimination and rights violations.”
Outrage Magazine already attempted to contact FCPC via its Facebook/Messenger, and through email using its publicly available email address (info@fcpc.com.ph). No response was received as of press time.
UPDATE ON APRIL 26, 8:34PM:
On April 25 at 6:48PM, googlemail.com reported that there was a problem in delivering the message to info@fcpc.com.ph. Particularly: “The recipient server did not accept our requests to connect.”
