26/06/2026
๐๐๐๐๐๐ | Safe-Learning Insecurities
School shootings in the Philippines are extremely rare, but just because they do not happen as often does not mean the possibilities are not there.
Two guns and a plan were all it took the underaged shooters of San Jose National High School on Monday to leave three students dead, and twenty others injured. Allegedly driven by the desire to revenge, the suspects managed to smuggle a .38 caliber revolver and a g***k 17 pistol onto school grounds before opening fire.
In the aftermath, public discourses have largely centered on lowering the age criminal liability, parental guidance, and the influence of violent video games. Yet amid these debates, one thing should not be excluded from the limelightโthe failure in preventing deadly weapons from entering the school. The problem is not only why the suspects committed the violence, but also how the schoolโs system failed to stop it from happening.
At the time of the crime, only one out of two security guards were deployed for duty, according to Regional Police Chief Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy. Having been stationed at the front gate of the school, the guard had no way of knowing the suspects sneaked their way in through a perimeter fence. For a school with more than 1,600 students, two security personnel are clearly not enough to ensure peace and order. Had there been more trained guards stationed at multiple points in the school, considering it had many entrances, exits, and weak borders, there would have been a higher chance of preventing the suspects from succeeding.
This is the reality of many, if not all, public schools all across the country. With problems involving limited resources, competing budgetary priorities, andโat timesโgovernment funding, schools struggle to maintain dedicated security personnel. In some cases, the salaries of security guards have to be sourced from the schoolsโ Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), while others have to rely on support from Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) or Local Government Units (LGUs) through the deployment of barangay watchmen.
While these help address immediate security needs, they do not always guarantee the presence of personnel with specialized training in threat assessment, crisis response, or school safety protocols. As a result, potential threats often go unnoticed, underestimated, or inadequately addressed before they escalate.
Moreover, many schools lack comprehensive security measures commonly found in private schools, such as systematic bag inspections, surveillance systems, and most importantly, metal detectors. Even though these measures, do not immediately and completely eliminate violence, without these, schools would have lesser protection against individuals who bring weapon and other threats inside school premises.
The fact that classrooms do not even have proper door locks contradicts how teachers remind us that schools are our second homesโsafe, sheltered, fortified. None of these are seen in classrooms with damaged doors and broken windows that are left unfixed for so long we tend to forget they were necessary for safety. If this is my second home, I would rather be homeschooled. At home, my real home, I would be more safe, more secured, and under supervision.
The Tacloban school shooting tragedy served as a wakeup call to learning institutions and the public as most schools have now mandated stricter security protocols. But as a student myself, I keep pondering on how disappointing it is that security deficiencies have been a persistent problem in public schools yet given so weak solutions. It is only now that these shortcomings have received serious attention. Only now when innocent learners had their lives come to a tragic end.
It is important to note that this may be the first deadly shooting case in the country, but it is not the first that involved brutality. On June 16, seven Grade 5 pupils sustained serious injuries after being attacked by a Grade 8 student with a kitchen knife in a private school in Cavite. A few days after, an 18-year-old student was wounded after being stabbed by a school mate at the Cavite National High School.
These are three separate incidents, each distinct in circumstance yet united by a troubling reality: all occurred within the confines of a school. It is unsettling that learners, whose minds are still developing, were able to inflict such harm on others. More devastating, however, is the common denominator that binds these cases togetherโthe failure to adequately safeguard spaces meant for learning.
School violence, in any form, should not be taken lightly. Learning institutions should not let their guards down despite not seeing any possible threats. When an institution fails to address factors that threaten the safety of students because no major crime has yet occurred, then it also fails to uphold that education is a right exercised without fear.
It is high time we treat school safety as a serious educational expense. It is high time for the government, in coordination with DepEd, to establish a dedicated school safety program that guarantees the deployment of trained security personnel in public schools and the provision of equipment like walk-through metal detectors and surveillance cameras, funded through national appropriations that will cover all schools nationwide. Only then will we make sure no life is at risk inside a premise meant to protect it.
by Ava Leonyl Resane
Art by Josh Jester Jusoy
