The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday admitted that its force was too small to guard and protect all the schools in the country, following the shooting incident at a school in Tacloban City which took the lives of three high school students and wounded up to 20 others.

This was amid the public clamor to augment police visibility in schools.

“We really cannot cover all schools. There are more than 40,000 public schools and around 6,000 private schools across the country, so that’s almost 50,000. Even if we assign just one [officer] per school, our police force would still not be enough,” said PNP spokesperson Col. Allen Rae Co in a Palace press briefing.

During the nationwide school opening this month, the PNP said it deployed 55,000 police and force multipliers nationwide (with regional deployments like 2,201 in Region 9 and 1,163 in Region 10).

“So what we are doing is a strategic deployment — placing personnel where and when they are most needed. That is why we are asking for the help and support of the local communities, the LGUs, especially the barangays. Our force multipliers, such as barangay watchmen, can help so we can better monitor and improve the safety and security of our schools,” he said.

Co said the Tacloban City PNP was still determining how the guns were sneaked into the school.

He said the aunt of one of the suspects, who is a police officer and owned the 9mm pistol, has voluntarily subjected herself to an investigation on how her nephew got hold of her firearm.

Co said the aunt may face imprisonment on administrative charges or may be dismissed for malversation because of infidelity for not safekeeping her firearm.

While the owner of the second firearm, a .38-caliber revolver, is believed to be a security guard and is being sought.

On the reported text exchanges between the two CICLs (children in conflict with the law), identified only as “Nash,” 14, and “Rod,” 15, Co said the authorities were verifying the authenticity of the messages.

“We can only say that, based on our initial investigation, especially the CICL alias ‘Nash,’ he was heavily influenced by online content. Aside from his posts of violent videos, we are also looking into other groups or communities he may have been involved with that could have influenced or encouraged him to commit this act,” Co said.

The PNP spokesperson said they are also examining the KMFDM T-shirt one of the suspects was wearing during the mass shooting.

“We also saw that. As I said, we have seen some indications that there may be other groups he was involved with that could have influenced or pushed him to commit this act,” Co said.

KMFDM is a German industrial rock band. According to the Anti-Defamation League website, criminals — particularly school shooters — wear their merchandise because the band was idolized by the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

KMFDM is a German acronym that in English loosely translates to “No pity for the majority.” Recent attackers have worn KMFDM to mimic, glorify, or pay tribute to the original school shooters.

Co said the CICLs are in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and are not held in a detention cell, as mandated by the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.

He said the PNP supports lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old, citing data showing that they have even encountered a case involving a nine-year-old in a petty crime.

“As a matter of fact, we studied the data, and our statistics show that the number of CICLs involved is increasing. So we will look into whether they acted with discernment, and we will assess if they understood what they were doing,” Co said.