FOLLOWING a directive from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Education Secretary Sonny Angara has proposed establishing a Joint School Safety Task Force alongside the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The inter-agency team will perform site-specific security audits across public schools nationwide in response to a deadly shooting at Banga National High School.
The tragedy marks the country’s third fatal campus shooting over the last three months.
President Marcos instructed the Department of Education (DepEd), DILG, and PNP to submit a comprehensive assessment report outlining concrete policy measures to prevent further school violence.
Emphasizing the urgency of protecting students, President Marcos declared that school violence cannot become normalized, asserting that children have a right to study without fear and parents deserve assurance that their children will return home safely.
Secretary Angara, who personally visited Banga National High School to inspect the site and offer condolences, clarified that the proposed task force aims to streamline agency collaboration rather than create new bureaucracy.
The framework will review existing safety policies, evaluate ground-level vulnerabilities, and recommend interventions tailored to the specific needs of individual schools and communities.
The joint task force’s audits will target essential campus security areas, including physical access controls, threat reporting systems, emergency response protocols, and local law enforcement coordination.
Findings will guide actionable solutions across school, division, local, regional, and national levels.
Concurrently, DepEd is working with law enforcement to trace the exact sequence of events, specifically examining how the firearm was accessed and brought onto campus to close safety gaps.
DepEd noted it will defer to the official police investigation while determining any administrative liabilities under agency regulations.
Recognizing the trauma caused by the attack, DepEd is prioritizing mental health services by deploying field personnel and specialized teams to deliver immediate psychological first aid to affected students, staff, and families.
Angara expressed his deepest sympathies to the grieving community, reiterating the government’s commitment to delivering prompt medical and psychosocial assistance.