FIRING LINE: Graduates must not be torn between 2 parents

FIRING LINE: Graduates must not be torn between 2 parents

By Robert B. Roque Jr.  l February 12, 2026 l Manila, Philippines

A former yaya of my kids has reached a proud moment — her only son is graduating from elementary school. However, at the recent PTA meeting, they were informed that only one guest is allowed per child in the auditorium. Then I heard the same rule in another public elementary school — this time in Project 4, Quezon City — close to where I live.

So, then I thought, is this really tolerated by the Department of Education – the country’s most lavishly funded government sector? Just one parent; one seat; one witness to a milestone of a child that took years of sacrifice to reach?

Firing Line finds this “one-parent-only” rule in graduation ceremonies is not just bureaucratic laziness — it is institutional cruelty dressed up as logistics.

First, it was the pandemic — lockdowns, quarantines, empty classrooms, online graduations, muted microphones, and pixelated diplomas. Entire batches of Filipino children were robbed of the normal rites of passage. No stage. No applause. No embraces. No proud parents in the audience. Families understood then — because fear was real, and safety mattered.

But today, what is the excuse: Small venue? Lack of chairs? Limited space? Administrative inconvenience? Or just the quiet indifference of principals, superintendents, and school officials who forgot what this day actually means?

It doesn’t take a DepEd Chief to understand the fact that no child is born of one parent. Why then, Secretary Sonny Angara, must a child graduate with only one in the audience?

That empty seat beside the allowed companion isn’t “policy.” It’s absence. It’s exclusion. It’s emotional deprivation — not just for the parent left outside the gate, but for the child who looks into the crowd and sees only half of the people who carried them there.

This generation already waited longer. K–12 added two more years to the finish line. Two more years of sacrifice. Two more years of tuition, baon, transport, fatigue, and faith — not just for students, but for parents who carried the burden with them. Mothers and fathers who worked longer hours. OFW parents who missed birthdays, recitals, and school days — and now are told they can’t even attend a graduation?

In a Filipino culture, this isn’t just insensitive — it’s anti-cultural and morally below-the-belt. What good are values education and character formation in classrooms if schools cannot show basic humanity on a child’s most symbolic day?

I bet you, Filipino families, don’t want to hear this: “Public schools have no funds.” No one believes that anymore these days! So rent chairs. Put up tents. Install fans. Use covered courts. Book auditoriums, if you have to. Spend the education budget on dignity, not excuses.

If this cannot be absolutely addressed by the DepEd, President Bongbong Marcos must step in and make this policy before March sets in. Secretary Angara, his division superintendents, and every school principal in the country must be made aware: this arrangement of one parent per graduate is unacceptable.

Graduation is not a crowd-control problem. It is a family milestone. And no Filipino child should be forced to choose which parent gets to witness it.

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