[4TH UPDATE] BAYBAY CITY, Leyte – After CHED's #Roadto5K, there's now a new #RoadTo3K.
Mr. Emmanuel Dagatan, a senior high school teacher in Ciabu National High School in Baybay City, found himself in the midst of an online controversy, after a private conversation shows him making an indecent proposal to a senior high school student from Visayas State University.
A post by the VSUSHS student shows Dagatan offering 3,000-pesos worth of cash to meet with him. The student rejected Dagatan's offer, perceiving it to be sexual in nature.
Dagatan, however, denied the allegations during the course of their exchange, claiming it was his “time” he wanted to buy, and he was not asking for sexual favors. He eventually blocked the kid on Facebook Messenger.
The student posted his conversation thread with Dagatan on Facebook shortly after, garnering more than 250 shares in a span of four days.
Netizens quickly called it "3K", drawing parallelisms to the recent CHED 5K-issue.
Dagatan claimed his account was hacked, hence the chat. But other students have voiced out that they too, have previously been approached by Dagatan with similar offers.
VSU fresh graduate Mr. Joy Salve, who initially requested anonymity, told Amaranth that Dagatan came to him last January offering 5,000-pesos to meet with him.
“I did not know him. He texted me claiming he wanted to be friends and offered me 5,000 if I agreed to meet with him. He told me I can approach him if I had any problem with money, and later offered to buy me a scooter in exchange for a blowjob.”
Before his current job, Dagatan also worked as a high school teacher at the Franciscan College of the Immaculate Concepcion (FCIC) for a time.
Mr. Dagatan graduated with a BS Development Communication degree major in Community Broadcasting from Visayas State University in 2012, and was also a writer for Amaranth during his college days.
Editor's Notes:
- Read Mr. Dagatan's response here.
- The headline originally carried "alleged online harassment" but has since been reworded "leaked vulgar convo". Both are correct, but the facts more easily support the latter.
- Since "Baybay high" has been a local reference to Baybay National High School, we reworded "Baybay high school teacher" to "Baybay senior high teacher" to mean a senior high school teacher in Baybay City.
- The third update removed the statement from the DDC head as she temporarily shelved her statement.
- The fourth update now contains the identity of the previously anonymous victim, upon his decision to reveal himself.
Erratum: The original story said Mr. Dagatan works at Baybay National High School. He does not. He works at Ciabu National High School. We regret this wrong information.