If you are a parent or guardian, there is a separate guide written for you: My Child Is Being Bullied.

If someone at school keeps making fun of you, pushing you around, spreading stories about you, or leaving you out on purpose, this guide is for you. Before anything else, you should know that it is not your fault. Nothing about you makes it acceptable for someone to treat you that way, and stopping it is the school's job.

You are also far from the only one. In the 2022 PISA survey of 15-year-old students, about three in four Filipino students said they had been bullied at least once in the past year, which was the highest rate of the 80 countries that took part. The most common kind is being made fun of, and it has become more common since then (in the 2025 results, 33 percent of Filipino students said other students made fun of them, up from 22 percent in 2022).

What counts as bullying

You do not need to be sure it "counts" before you tell someone, because deciding that is the school's job. Still, it helps to know that DepEd's rules (revised in 2025) cover much more than hitting. They include name-calling and mocking, threats, rumors, being left out on purpose to hurt you, harassment online, and being targeted because of your gender or what people assume about it. The rules also cover the smaller things that tend to come first, such as repeated intimidation, so you do not have to wait for it to get worse.

Bullying usually has two features. It happens again and again, and the person doing it has some kind of advantage over you (for example, they are older or bigger, they are more popular, they have friends with them, or they have something they can use against you). A single argument between two friends is usually not bullying. Being laughed at by the same group every day usually is.

What to do while it is happening

A lot of bullying is about getting a reaction, either from you or from the people watching. So in the moment, the aim is to give as little reaction as you can and get away from it. That is hard to do when you are upset, which is why it helps to decide ahead of time what you will say. Keep it short and calm, and then leave:

Then go toward other people, such as a teacher, a guard, a group of classmates, or anyone you trust. Bullying tends to happen where adults are not looking (the CR, the stairs, the back of the room, the walk home), so stay where people are when you can, and walk with a friend at the times it usually happens.

If you can, avoid fighting back. It rarely ends the bullying, and you can end up being disciplined as well, even if they started it. If someone is physically hurting you, get away and get help as fast as you can.

Tell an adult, and keep telling

Telling an adult is the step that brings in people with the power to stop it. Under DepEd's revised rules, every school (public and private) is supposed to have a Learner Formation Officer, a staff member whose job is to respond first when bullying is reported. If your school has not named one yet (some have not), go to your adviser, your guidance counselor, any teacher you trust, or the principal. Any of them should know where your report goes next.

Tell a parent or guardian too, even if you are worried it will make things bigger. They can follow up with the school in ways you cannot.

You do not need a speech. Something like this is enough:

"I need to tell you about something that keeps happening. [Name] has been [what they do] since [when]. It happened again today at [place]. I want it to stop, and I don't think I can stop it by myself."

If the first adult you tell does nothing, tell another one, and tell your parent or guardian that nothing happened. Every school is required to have an anti-bullying policy in the student handbook and posted where students can see it, and you (or your parent) can ask to see it. DepEd's rules also call for a way to report anonymously, if you are worried about being seen as the person that reported it.

Write down what happens

Keep a simple record each time it happens: the date, the time, the place, what was said or done (the exact words, if you remember them), and who saw it. A note on your phone is fine. A record turns "they keep bothering me" into a pattern with dates on it, which is much harder for anyone to brush off. It also means you do not have to remember everything later, when you are upset and someone is asking you questions.

If it is happening online

Bullying in a group chat, on social media, in a game, or by text is still bullying, and DepEd's rules cover it. These steps help:

If anyone threatens to hurt you, or shares (or threatens to share) private photos of you, tell a parent or guardian right away. That is serious enough to go beyond the school, and you have not done anything wrong by telling.

Find one person to stand with

None of this makes stopping the bullying your job. That belongs to the school. But one thing makes it easier to get through, and in many cases less likely to keep going: having at least one friend at school. Researchers have found that a good friend offers real protection (one well-known study on this was titled "The Power of Friendship"), partly because a friend is someone to stand with, and partly because it is harder to single out someone that is not alone.

If you do not have that person yet, start with one. Look for someone in your section, club, or org that is friendly to you, or someone that is often on their own too, and spend small amounts of time with them again and again. Say hi using their name, sit near them, and walk with them between classes. Our guide to making friends as a teenager goes through how classmates become friends, step by step.

If talking to people is the hard part, sign up and I will send three short guides plus 300 conversation questions you can use with classmates. Send me the guides →

Look after yourself

Being bullied wears people down, and it is normal if it is affecting your sleep, your appetite, your grades, or how much you want to go to school. Spend time with the people that treat you well (at home, in your barangay, online, wherever they are), and keep doing the things you enjoy outside of school. They give you something good in your week that has nothing to do with the people bullying you.

If you feel hopeless, or you are thinking about hurting yourself, please talk to someone today. Tell a parent, a guidance counselor, or another adult you trust, or call the National Center for Mental Health crisis line, which is free and open 24 hours: 1553 from a landline in Luzon, or 0917-899-8727 or 0966-351-4518 (Globe and TM) and 0908-639-2672 (Smart, Sun, and TNT) from a mobile phone.

If it is happening to someone else

If you see someone being bullied, you can help without starting a fight. Stand next to them, or give them a reason to leave with you ("Come with me, I need help with something"). Don't laugh along, and don't share the post. Then tell an adult what you saw. A lot of bullying is done for an audience, so even one person refusing to play along can change how it goes.

If you only do one thing after reading this, make it telling one adult today, and show them your notes.