School-related violence in the Philippines has surged to unprecedented levels following a deadly June campus shooting in Tacloban, Department of Education (DepEd) officials told a Senate panel Thursday.

Education Undersecretary Malcolm Garma told the Senate committee on basic education that the sudden spike reflects a “copycat phenomenon” where students mirror violent actions seen online or in the news.

Garma cited that while campus threats existed previously, reports of shooting and bomb threats escalated sharply after the Tacloban incident.

Officials identified social media and online exposure as primary drivers of the trend. Garma specifically cited “GoreBox,” a physics-based sandbox video game that police previously linked to the 22 June shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban, which killed three students and wounded 20 others.

Citing data from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Garma said downloads of the game spiked nationwide immediately after the tragedy, indicating that the coverage triggered intense curiosity among non-users.

“It appears that GoreBox was highlighted because of the Tacloban shooting,” Garma said. “This is something that perhaps we can now say is already beyond DepEd.”

Committee chairperson Senator Bam Aquino flagged the alarming velocity of the threats, noting his office logged 15 separate incidents — including stabbings, shootings and bomb scares — in a span of just 20 days between 16 June and 6 July.

Aquino said the crisis underscores the urgent need to pass the proposed School Safety Act. The bill would mandate security measures, including installing CCTV cameras across all campuses.

Currently, only 40 percent of public schools nationwide have CCTV surveillance, often relying on local government units or parent donations.

Garma cited that while San Jose National High School had security cameras, structural “blind spots” prevented staff from immediately catching the shooting on screen. The two suspects, ages 14 and 15, are students at the school and remain in police custody.

Investigators are verifying whether a grudge over bullying motivated the attack.

DepEd data revealed that school bullying cases in the National Capital Region alone rose from 2,268 during the 2023-2024 school year to 2,500 during the 2024-2025 period.

The increase comes despite the December 2024 enactment of the Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act, signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Data from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) showed that bullying remains most prevalent in highly congested public schools, often exacerbated by lower levels of institutional discipline and discriminatory teacher behavior.

In response to the numbers, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian pressed the education department to immediately utilize over P2 billion in allocated funds to hire 10,000 school counselor associates.

“Under the law, school counselor associates can now function as psychologists, given the shortage of registered guidance counselors in the Philippines,” Gatchalian said.

The Senate leader urged DepEd to prioritize deploying these new associates to highly congested, high-risk institutions to address the trauma and behavioral issues before they escalate into campus violence.