Social welfare officials have taken custody of a 14-year-old girl who allegedly turned a kitchen knife on a Grade 5 classroom in General Trias City, Cavite, with authorities now arranging medical and psychological evaluation for the suspect.
The eighth grader wounded seven younger students in the Tuesday, June 16 attack. Two of the victims were hurt badly enough to require surgery, according to General Trias Mayor Luis Ferrer IV.
Investigators looking into how the assault unfolded found that the classroom had been left without supervision because teachers were gathered in a meeting at the time.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez addressed the case the following day, pledging tighter coordination with campuses nationwide. “Violence inside educational institutions is unacceptable and we will work closely with school authorities and local government officials to prevent similar incidents from happening again,” he said on Wednesday, June 17, noting that the PNP is helping schools strengthen their internal security arrangements.
The Department of Education appealed for restraint in how the case is discussed publicly, calling on people to “respect the privacy, dignity and rights of all children involved and to refrain from spreading unverified information.”
The campus where the attack took place has opened its records to the police, municipal officials and DepEd.
For the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the bloodshed pointed to deeper institutional failures, with the group saying the episode “exposes long-standing gaps in school staffing and support systems.”
