SCHOOLS throughout the country on Thursday held the National Simultaneous School Safety Drill to train students, teachers and staff to respond to violent incidents on their campuses.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and Department of Education (DepEd) officials led by Undersecretary Malcolm Garma attended the drill at Carlos F. Gonzales High School in San Rafael, Bulacan.
“We want our schools to be places where a learner’s biggest concern is an upcoming exam, a missed assignment, or simply getting through another busy day at school, not whether they are safe inside their own classroom,” Education Secretary Angara said in a statement.
“This drill is not about dwelling on frightening situations. It is about making sure that when an emergency happens, our school community knows how to respond. The purpose of a drill is not to look perfect. It is to help us become better prepared,” he said.
The nationwide drills are part of a broader push by the DepEd to strengthen security following two rare school shooting incidents that shook the Philippines in the past months.
“We have already almost perfected our fire and earthquake drills, and this is something new, so we need to do this kind of exercise,” Garma told reporters. “Through this kind of exercise, we want our schools… to be aware, to be able to recognize these kinds of threats and to be able to respond.”
The drill was conducted after consultations with medical and mental health experts, which included the Philippine Psychiatric Association, Philippine Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Philippines Pediatric Society.
The Department of Education (DepEd) said it has “updated its safety drill guidelines to align with trauma-informed, child-centered standards under a strict ‘Do No Harm’ directive.”
“Hyper-realistic elements, active aggressor role-playing, and graphic threat simulations were strictly prohibited,” it said. “Instead, drills are triggered by a distinct early warning alarm, separate from standard fire or earthquake signals, to build procedural muscle memory without creating distress.”
The drill began with an emergency alert through a public address system and simulated calls to authorities. Teachers and learners simulated protective actions in classrooms. Responding policemen arrived with their firearms concealed.
Response teams simulated first aid procedures.
Observers from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices “evaluated the simulation to identify operational gaps and refine localized contingency plans,” the DepEd said.
It said it is issuing the new School Contingency Plan that integrates “active threat responses, such as lockout, lockdown, evacuation and reunification procedures, into the school’s existing disaster management frameworks.”
As part of the drill, about 3,000 junior and senior high school students barricaded their classroom doors with tables and chairs, drew curtains and switched off the lights before crouching under tables to protect themselves.
Teachers guided students with their arms raised, a measure to show they were not carrying weapons, from their classrooms to the covered court, where they waited for the school staff’s psychological assessment and the arrival of their parents who would take them home.
“I also got scared when I heard that there will be drills like this, but participating in the drill is a step to lessen that fear and to prepare us and our students,” Roy Fama, a teacher at Carlos F. Gonzales High School, said.
Initially scheduled last month, the drills were rescheduled due to bad weather and after mental health advocates warned that hyper-realistic drills can cause lasting psychological harm to students.
Teacher April Tapion, 40, said she remained hesitant to send her Grade 5 and Grade 8 children to participate despite the changes.
“I am scared that they will think of the world as fearful and full of bad people because of the idea of the drill,” Tapion told AFP.
Karina Mallonga, director of the Infant Jesus Academy Kalibo Campus, said schools and Philippine society could instead focus on strengthening other forms of support for students.
“I would rather that we strengthen other things, strengthen our guidance programs, make sure kids feel supported by their class advisers, and encourage kids to speak,” Mallonga told AFP.
But Remulla said it not only taught the students how to respond to an attack but also to improve coordination among the local police and emergency units.
“I am very confident that we will respond better (now),” Remulla said.
The DILG on Thursday said the school shooting in Zamboanga City exposed the need for faster and better-coordinated government communication during crises, after unverified reports and misleading videos spread on social media after the incident.
Hours after the shooting, videos purportedly showing injured school security guards circulated on social media, prompting confusion and reports that the guards had been killed.
DILG Undersecretary for Public Affairs and Communication Ronaldo Puno said government agencies, the media and the public must work together to prevent fake news and misinformation, particularly during rapidly developing and high-tension situations.
“We really need a concerted effort to quash fake news,” Puno said during a news forum in Manila.
He urged the public to rely only on official information from government sources.
Bullying
A national survey showed that bullying is the top reason Filipinos associate with the rise in school violence, but a stronger security presence in schools is what most want the government to prioritize.
In its August survey, Momentum Research found that 77.2 percent of respondents identified bullying by fellow students as a reason for the increase in school violence.
When asked what government should prioritize to prevent school violence, 75.8 percent called for tighter school security, while 53.7 percent favored stronger anti-bullying programs.
The survey showed that school violence has become a widespread concern among Filipinos.
Some 93.2 percent of respondents said they considered school violence a problem, and 96.2 percent said they were concerned about their children’s exposure to it, including 69 percent who were “very concerned.”
After bullying, respondents cited weak school security at 38 percent, negative influences from social media and violent online content at 36.3 percent, drug or alcohol use at 33.7 percent, and easy access to firearms at 19.2 percent.
Mental health problems were cited by 18.2 percent, followed by family problems (16.4 percent), lack of guidance counselors (13.5 percent), and poverty (7.3 percent).
The survey also found differences across generations in how Filipinos viewed the causes of school violence.
Bullying remained the top factor across all generations, although the proportion citing it declined with age.
It was identified by 83.6 percent of Gen Z respondents and 82.9 percent of millennials, compared with 70.3 percent of Gen X and 58.6 percent of Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation.
Among younger respondents, negative social media influences and violent online content ranked among the top three perceived reasons. It was cited by 40.3 percent of Gen Z respondents and 41.7 percent of millennials.
Gen Z respondents were also more likely than other generations to cite easy access to firearms, at 26.8 percent.
Among Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, drug or alcohol use, lack of guidance counselors and family problems ranked relatively higher.
On government priorities, tighter school security ranked first across all generations, with support reaching 81.6 percent among Gen Z and 81.3 percent among millennials.
Stronger anti-bullying programs ranked second overall, with support highest among millennials at 63.7 percent.
Gen Z respondents showed greater support for improved mental health services in schools (40 percent) and stricter enforcement of gun laws (34.5 percent).
The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,487 respondents.
