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Philippines school violence: Educators reject Marcos government’s police-heavy response
Looking at school shooting incidents solely as a security problem risks overlooking their true nature as a mental health and social welfare concern, says Educators Forum for Development-Mindanao
- PUBLISHED: Sat 22 Aug 2026, 6:00 AM
Education experts in the Philippines have criticised the government’s response to seemingly increasing school violence in the country following a second deadly incident on Tuesday that killed two junior high school students.
While President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered increased police presence in schools nationwide, the Educators Forum for Development-Mindanao (EFD-M) urged a reframing of the response to the rising incidents of school violence, rejecting the government’s security-heavy approach.
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“While government responses focus on ‘securitisation’ — or its treatment of this problem as an issue of peace and order — EFD-M contends this phenomenon stems from a confluence of factors demanding deeper inquiry,” EFD-M lead convenor Sr. Concepcion Gasang underscored.
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The group proposes an “Independent Commission of Educators and Social Scientists” to investigate the root causes of school shootings and stabbings that victimised both students and teachers.
Should violent online games be blamed?
Sr. Concepcion said the digitalisation of almost everything in children’s lives impacts their mental health, including exposure to violent gaming culture. But she added that the broader environment of normalised violence in society is a heavier burden.
The educator explained: “Many of these children in conflict with the law (CICL) aged 14-16 were born around 2010 and came of age in an environment shaped by violent rhetoric and extrajudicial killings during the 2016 Rodrigo Duterte government, alongside the explosive rise of social media and violent gaming culture.”
The Catholic nun said it is up to educators like her to caution society against repeating past errors, citing as an example the country’s illegal drug problem that was mischaracterised as a peace-and-order issue rather than a public health challenge.
The group noted looking at the school shooting incidents as solely a security problem risks obscuring their true nature as a mental health and social welfare concern.
Is there a difference between public and private schools?
EFD-M said children, whether students of overcrowded schools, or in exclusive private schools reserved for the upper classes, are susceptible to violence outside the gates.
Sr. Concepcion said the shooting on August 18 serves as a critical wake-up call, occurring in a premier private institution with better resources and smaller, more manageable populations.
“The fact that such violence has pierced this protective bubble signals that no educational setting is immune. Our response must be proportionate and comprehensive to examine this phenomenon as a complex convergence of triggers requiring holistic intervention, not merely fortified gates and stricter regulations,” Gasang added.
The nun’s caution comes after the Marcos government’s response of deploying more police officers in schools who would be backed up by village watchmen. No less than the country’s interior and local government secretary and the national chief of the Philippine National Police made the announcement.
But Gasang said the government should not impose the presence of armed personnel in what should be safe spaces for children, making them an unwitting part of the country’s violent peace-and-order ecosystem.
“This is not our youth’s burden to bear. The adult world, especially the State, has failed our children,” Gasang emphasised.
Early findings show the Zamboanga shooter accessed firearms owned by his father — a customs official subsequently suspended — demonstrating that weapon availability begins long before children step foot on school grounds, the religious leader added.
The Tacloban shooters likewise accessed weapons from relatives in law enforcement and a security agency.
Are teachers also to blame?
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the president’s spokesperson blamed teachers for sometimes teaching students bad manners. Teachers protested, including children's rights, child welfare, and psycho-social interventions expert Mae Fae Templa.
Templa said the official must realise that educators are not responsible for armed violence in schools and that they do not control illicit weapons markets, political violence culture, budget cuts to counselling services, failures in gun law enforcement, and the unregulated dominance of Meta and social media platforms, especially in relation to children.
“We did not give children access to guns. We did not create the culture of impunity. Yet we are asked to shoulder responsibility for a crisis that precedes the school bell,” noted the former social welfare and development official, now the EFD-M co-convenor.
Templa added: “Do not blame the teachers and even the shooter and children in conflict with the law (CICLs) who are actually victims of a larger social problem. Blaming teachers is deflection. It lets the government off the hook while penalising those with lesser accountability.”
“Teachers are partners in healing, not scapegoats for systemic failure,” Templa underlined.
What is the best intervention?
Sr. Concepcion and Templa propose that an independent commission of educators and social scientists look into the impact of social media platforms and whether a social media ban for minors would be an effective measure, following the experience in other countries.
They also suggest that the commission should probe gun access. An estimated 3.9 million firearms circulate in the Philippines — roughly one million licensed, with hundreds of thousands unregistered.
In contrast, there is a shortage of mental health professionals in proportion to the Philippine population.
“We say ‘enough’ of more strongman policies to social problems. The government has been resorting to militarism and policing to solve these complex ills. It requires an inter-disciplinary approach so that our schools become truly safe and empowering spaces where our children are treated as individuals capable of growth and redemption, not subjects of punishment,” Templa concluded.