MANILA: 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 deadly attack at 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 schoolmates, aged 15 and 14, opened fire at a public high school in Tacloban City, southeast of Manila, on Monday. The attackers used a 9mm Glock pistol and a .38-caliber revolver. The youngest among the injured was a 12-year-old. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has called for an investigation.
"This will change how we prepare our schools for safety, not just for earthquakes," senior civil defence official Rafaelito Alejandro told Reuters. "We need to fast-track preparedness, not only for natural disasters but also for human-induced, crime-related incidents."
The school, which has close to 2,000 students, was not prepared for such a situation, Lieutenant Evalyn Diaz, a police spokesperson, told Reuters. Some panicked students went running and inadvertently exposed themselves to the shooters, instead of taking cover under tables, she said.
Police said at least 40 empty shells were recovered at the scene. "We really don’t prepare for this kind of incident," Diaz said. "They didn’t really know what to do, so they ran in different directions." School shootings are considered rare in the Philippines, which has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluations. 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.
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.
"It is all about training people when there are emergencies so they know what to do," he said. Both suspects have been turned over to social welfare authorities, and it remains unclear how they obtained the firearms. 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. 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.
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.
But Diaz said other lines of investigation were also being considered, including the possible influence of social media.
The incident highlighted concerns about children's exposure to online violence, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said.
"It's not just a peace and order problem. We also need to manage the children," Angara told reporters.
"We’re very concerned, we don’t want a situation seen in the United States, where there have been concerns about copycat incidents," she said. The United States has grappled with such attacks for years, including the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where a gunman killed 20 children and six educators.
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.
"If the internet is being used to exploit children, there must be accountability. We will not wait for more victims before we act," Hontiveros said in a Facebook post.