{"id":128171,"date":"2026-06-23T22:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=128171"},"modified":"2026-06-23T22:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:27:21","slug":"philippines-rethinks-school-safety-after-rare-shooting-kills-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128171\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines rethinks school safety after rare shooting kills 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- Philippine authorities are rethinking school safety measures and looking to expand civil defence planning to cover gun violence, officials said on Tuesday, a day after a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2009969\">deadly attack<\/a>\u00a0at a high school shocked a nation where such incidents are rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At least three students were killed and 20 others injured when two of their schoolmates, aged 15 and 14, opened fire at a public high school in Tacloban City, southeast of Manila, on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The attackers used a 9mm Glock pistol and a 38-calibre revolver. The youngest among the injured was a 12-year-old. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has called for an investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis will change how we prepare our schools for safety, not just for earthquakes,\u201d senior civil defence official Rafaelito Alejandro told&nbsp;<em>Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need to fast-track preparedness, not only for natural disasters but also for human-induced, crime-related incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The school, which has close to 2,000 students, was not prepared for such a situation, Lieutenant Evalyn Diaz, a police spokesperson, told&nbsp;<em>Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some panicked students went running and inadvertently exposed themselves to the shooters, instead of taking cover under tables, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police said at least 40 empty shells were recovered at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe really don\u2019t prepare for this kind of incident,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t really know what to do, so they ran in different directions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">School shootings are considered rare in the Philippines, which has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Civilian ownership is limited to small arms, while automatic and other high-powered weapons are restricted, and carrying firearms in public also requires a separate permit. Still, illegal firearms remain in circulation. The shooting occurred weeks after schools in the Philippines reopened following a two-month summer break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said he would meet with education and health officials to update emergency measures and better prepare teachers and students to respond to shooting-related incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is all about training people when there are emergencies so they know what to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both suspects have been turned over to social welfare authorities, and it remains unclear how they obtained the firearms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police said the pistol was issued to a police officer who is now in custody and under investigation, while the revolver was registered to a security agency based in Cebu City in central Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The national police support lowering the minimum age at which children can be held responsible for a crime to 12 from 15, a police spokesperson told a press conference. One version of a pending bill has proposed lowering the age to 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Initial questioning by authorities indicated the two suspects may have been bullied since the seventh grade. However, authorities also cautioned against drawing conclusions as the investigation was still ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Diaz said other lines of investigation were also being considered, including the possible influence of social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2010258\/philippines-rethinks-school-safety-after-rare-shooting-kills-3#concerns-over-online-violence\"><\/a>Concerns over online violence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incident highlighted concerns about children\u2019s exposure to online violence, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s not just a peace and order problem. We also need to manage the children,\u201d Angara told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re very concerned, we don\u2019t want a situation seen in the United States, where there have been concerns about copycat incidents,\u201d she said. The United States has grappled with such attacks for years, including the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/2012\/12\/14\/at-least-27-killed-in-us-school-shooting\/\">2012 Sandy Hook<\/a>&nbsp;Elementary School shooting, where a gunman killed 20 children and six educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Tuesday she will reopen a Senate inquiry into the alleged use of online platforms, including gaming spaces, to groom and radicalise children into committing violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the internet is being used to exploit children, there must be accountability. We will not wait for more victims before we act,\u201d Hontiveros said in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- Philippine authorities are rethinking school safety measures and looking to expand civil defence planning to cover gun violence, officials said on Tuesday, a day after a\u00a0deadly attack\u00a0at a high school shocked a nation where such incidents are rare. At least three students were killed and 20 others injured when two of their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Philippines rethinks school safety after rare shooting kills 3 - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/128171\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philippines rethinks school safety after rare shooting kills 3 - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- Philippine authorities are rethinking school safety measures and looking to expand civil defence planning to cover gun violence, officials said on Tuesday, a day after a\u00a0deadly attack\u00a0at a high school shocked a nation where such incidents are rare. 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