Students, teachers and school staff in Metro Manila are being asked to learn a five-part emergency response framework, as the national police separately press licensed gun owners to keep their weapons locked away following recent firearm incidents involving minors in schools.
The framework, known as ALICE, covers five possible actions during an active shooter situation or similar violent threat: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. Brig. Gen. Christopher Abrahano, officer-in-charge of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said the steps are meant to guide quick decisions in the first few minutes of an attack and are not meant to be followed in a set order.
“During an emergency, every second matters. We want our students, teachers, school personnel and the entire Metro Manila community to remember ALICE — not as a rigid sequence, but as a set of options that can help them respond quickly and appropriately when faced with danger,” Abrahano said in a news release.
He said the right choice will vary from one situation to another, and people caught in an emergency should keep reading what is happening around them and stay calm enough to decide.
“ALICE reminds us that we have options. The important thing is to stay as calm as possible, assess the danger, act decisively and choose the option that gives you the best chance of getting away from harm,” Abrahano said.
He also called on schools and other institutions to build emergency readiness into their safety programs, including making sure people know evacuation routes, where to take shelter and how to reach authorities during an incident.
At the national level, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Civil Security Group (CSG) has launched a countrywide “Gun Safety Advocacy Campaign” aimed at those who legally own firearms. Its message is that a license does not end an owner’s obligations, and that safe handling and proper storage must be kept up to prevent guns from being taken by anyone not authorized to use them.
“Recent firearm-related incidents involving minors remind us that gun safety cannot be taken for granted. We are strengthening our advocacy to ensure that legally owned firearms are properly handled, securely stored and kept away from unauthorized persons,” PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in a statement on Sunday.
The campaign runs under the tagline “Own a gun responsibly. Gun safety is a continuing duty.”
Nartatez said the effort leans on prevention as much as on enforcement.
“Enforcement is important but prevention can stop an incident from happening in the first place. Through public education and community participation, we want responsible firearm ownership and safe handling to become part of everyday practice,” he said.
The initiative falls under the PNP Focused Agenda, specifically its Enhanced Managing Police Operations program. All Police Regional Offices and local police units have been ordered to step up information drives on responsible gun ownership.
The CSG has been tasked with holding gun safety seminars and engaging stakeholders across the country to broaden public knowledge of safe firearm practices.
