Grade-school and high-school campuses nationwide will begin rehearsing what to do when someone opens fire on school grounds, with the Department of Education scheduling the first active shooter drills for Friday, July 10.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara described the exercises as a standing response procedure rather than a one-time demonstration.
“Ipapakita natin ano ang kailangan gawin ‘pag may bumaril sa isang eskwelahan, may protocol tayong automatic,” Angara said.
The department has paired the drills with a second problem that has grown alongside them. Threats of bombs on campus have multiplied in recent weeks, and Angara said DepEd wants police handling them directly.
“Hihingi tayo ng tulong sa PNP kasi dumadami rin ang mga bomb threats,” he said.
School administrators have responded to those threats unevenly, according to the secretary, with some canceling classes outright while more experienced ones summon tactical police units to sweep the grounds.
“Yung iba kasi automatic nagsu-suspend ng klase. Yung ibang sanay na sa bomb threats, tumatawag ng SWAT team,” Angara added.
Angara has cautioned against reflexive class suspensions, telling reporters that schools should first request a security assessment before sending students home, SunStar reported.
The measures trace back to June 22, when two Grade 9 students opened fire at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City. Three students died. Twenty others were wounded, according to most accounts, though BusinessMirror placed the figure at 23. Police arrested the suspects, aged 14 and 15.
Counseling remains part of the department’s answer. DepEd is providing psychological first aid to students and parents touched by campus violence.
Angara framed the drills as an institutional correction rather than routine preparedness, saying in Filipino that adjustments were necessary because the country had never before recorded a school shooting carried out by students.
