Quezon City Police District and the Quezon City government will hold school active shooter and emergency drills under the Metro Manila Safer Cities program, training students to respond to shootings, stabbings, bomb threats and riots while boosting campus security and trust in police.
A planned nationwide school drill simulating live shooter attacks should be postponed because it may expose students to psychological harm without clear evidence that such exercises improve safety, two leading psychiatric groups said.
In a joint position statement, the Philippine Psychiatric Association (PPA) and the Philippine Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (PSCAP) said preparedness was essential but the methods used must be trauma-informed and based on evidence.
“The conduct of a simulation of a live shooter attack drill should be deferred. Simulated active-attack exercises expose learners to hyper-realistic scenarios of violence,” they said.
The groups cited a 2025 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which they said found insufficient evidence that school active-shooter simulations improve safety outcomes and advised against high-intensity drills or deceptive practices.
They also cited a study of 54 million social media posts across 114 schools that found a 42 percent increase in language related to stress and anxiety and a 39 percent increase in depression-related language after school shooter drills, with the effects lasting at least 90 days.
The groups said schools should instead use tabletop exercises, in which teachers, staff and parents discuss hypothetical emergency scenarios and work through how they would respond.
“For example, participants might ask: ‘If an intruder enters, who locks the doors? Who calls parents? Where do students go? “This approach builds coordination and preparedness without frightening children,” it said.
“That goal is best achieved through preventive, trauma-informed, and evidence-based measures, so that schools remain places of safety, resilience, and hope,” they added.
The Department of Education earlier directed schools nationwide to conduct a simultaneous School Safety Drill for Active Attack Incidents on Tuesday, 25 August to test schools’ ability to respond, evacuate students and reunite learners with their families during an active threat.
