Phl schools face new security scare

Two Lasallian campuses faced security threats Thursday, adding to a growing string of school scares that has continued well beyond the Philippine National Police’s latest publicly disclosed nationwide tally.

De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde suspended afternoon classes on Thursday, 1 October, after receiving a security threat, sending students and employees home while its Center for Emergency Management, Safety and Security coordinated with police and conducted a campus sweep.

On the same day, De La Salle University-Dasmariñas in Cavite also received a security threat.

They were not alone. Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna also suspended on-site classes on Thursday over what it described as a security concern, shifting to synchronous online learning while authorities investigated. The school did not disclose the nature of the threat.

The latest nationwide PNP figures reported by major news organizations covered only 16 June to 19 August.

During that period, police recorded 50 school incidents involving children in conflict with the law. These were 12 alleged shooting threats, 26 bomb threats, four stabbing incidents, four cases of illegal firearm possession, two death threats, and two actual shootings.

But those figures counted incidents, not schools, and the reporting period ended more than six weeks ago. Since then, the threats have continued.

More suspensions

On 20 August, Tigbauan National High School in Iloilo suspended face-to-face classes after a teacher received a shooting threat.

A week later, La Salle Green Hills shifted classes online after a student identified himself as a “shooter” in a group chat, prompting a police investigation.

On 21 September, police in South Cotabato investigated threats involving students in Surallah, while authorities in Sultan Kudarat tracked a 13-year-old who posted that he planned to shoot up the Kapingkong National High School.

Days later, police responded to a supposed plan by unidentified students to attack the laboratory high school of Biliran Province State University.

La Libertad Technical-Vocational School in Negros Oriental reported another shooting threat late in September, while an unnamed Valenzuela school suspended classes after a note warned that someone carrying a gun planned to shoot people on the campus.

Those cases came on top of the country’s third deadly school shooting in three months.

On 18 September, a shooting at Banga National High School in South Cotabato left three students dead, including the gunman. Authorities investigated whether online communities played a role in influencing the minor.

Fragmented numbers

By 30 September, authorities in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat were counseling 40 students apprehended over online threats involving attacks on schools, classmates, and teachers, according to local officials.

Regional police figures showed how much larger the problem may be than the August national snapshot suggested, although the datasets overlapped and could not simply be added together.

Eastern Visayas police had recorded at least 16 online threats targeting schools between the 22 June Tacloban shooting and late August.

In Cebu, provincial police logged 19 school-targeted threats across 15 local government units from July to September. Thirteen suspects were identified, and police said some incidents appeared to have been pranks by students trying to avoid examinations, assignments, or classes.

Those regional figures may overlap with the PNP’s earlier nationwide tally and include different types of threats, making them unsuitable for calculating a precise national total.

What they do show is that 12 shooting threats as of 19 August is no longer a current measure of the problem.

A DAILY TRIBUNE review of publicly reported cases found multiple additional shooting threats after that cutoff, while bomb threats and less specific security alerts have continued separately.

The government has responded by tightening school preparedness. Public schools held nationwide safety exercises on 3 September, although DepEd avoided realistic active-shooter simulations over concerns about psychological distress among students.

The PNP is also considering the nationwide adoption of Calabarzon’s B.E.S.T. School Alert and Rapid Response System, initially covering around 155 schools, to speed up communication between campuses and law enforcement.