MANILA, Philippines – A fraternity from University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) found themselves in hot water after an alleged leaked group chat of their members surfaced on Twitter.
Dubbed the #ScintillaScandal, Twitter account Manyaks of UPV posted alleged screenshots of a group chat with some UPV Scintilla Juris members on June 26, where they can be found sharing nude videos and photos of women, with some reported to be of their past romantic partners.
The alleged conversation also featured the members describing gay people as “snowflakes,” making lewd comments about women and their sister sorority, and going so far as describing looking at other girls’ profiles as “window shopping.”
Minors were not spared from the alleged group chat, as members sexualized them, saying #ManamitSHS (Yummy senior high school students).
Aware of their actions, the alleged members even raised the possibility of experiencing a "Lonsi leak," referring to an unverified chat linked to Upsilon Sigma Phi that went viral in 2018 and featured sexist, homophobic, and Islamaphobic remarks.
The screenshots have pushed other people to come forward with their own experiences of sexual harassment by quotetweeting the allegations or sending their stories to Twitter account Manyaks of UPV.
#BantayBastos, a campaign that seeks to address misogyny and gender-related violence by holding public figures accountable for their words and actions demeaning women, called on UPV Scintilla Juris and the UP Visayas community to address the issue.
“We cannot discount this as ‘locker room’ talk or that boys will be boys...This toxic masculinity among fraternities must end now...The only way we can prevent this from happening again is to hold them accountable,” they said.
Meanwhile, UPV Skimmers, an academic organization composed of students from the Division of Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, urged the community to hold the perpetrators accountable and "discontinue the prevalance of a culture that objectifies and disregards others' rights."
"We call for a fair punishment to those who have done these atrocious deeds and are guilty of committing such actions. Nothing could be said to excuse the contents of that group chat," UPV Skimmers said.
UPV Skimmers Official Statement
"We condemn sexual violence, misogyny, and homophobic remarks. Thus, we, the UPV Skimmers, demand the authorities to give rightful sanction to the members of Scintilla Jvris Fraternity involved in this incident." pic.twitter.com/gzxzRa45oD
‘No place to justify nor tolerate malicious conduct’
By Thursday, July 2, the UPV Scintilla Juris broke their silence to apologize to those who were “harassed or violated by the actions taken by the members involved.”
— UPV SJ (@UPV_SJ) July 1, 2020
In a separate statement, UPV Scintilla Juris' sister sorority UP Stella Juris said they “strongly condemn all forms of harassment and blatant disrespect against minors and people regardless of gender affinity.”
“There is no place to justify nor tolerate any malicious conduct identified by Twitter account Manyaks of UPV and allegedly committed by certain individuals who were identified as members of UP Scintilla Juris fraternity,” they added.
“Women, especially minors, are not objects. Women, the minors, and the members of the LGBTQ++ Community deserve respect.”
UP STELLA JURIS SORORITY OFFICIAL STATEMENT: pic.twitter.com/q2ulMTxWAA
UP Stella Juris and UP Scintilla Juris assured that fact-finding and disciplinary action committees have been established by the fraternity to ensure accountability at the soonest possible time.
The sorority added that further appropriate measures will be taken to rectify this form of behavior and hold accountable those who will be proven to be involved in the group chat.
“The system we are trying to abolish will never be eradicated if this practice is perpetuated even in small circles,” UP Stella Juris said.
The sorority asserted in their statement that women – especially minors – “are not objects” and along with the LGBTQ+ community are deserving of respect. – Rappler.com