[Be The Good] Not another school shooting please

We're all asking one question: how can we prevent this from happening again? The Philippines has experienced a series of school shootings, with the recent Ateneo de Zamboanga incident highlighting the issue of licensed firearms being used in these tragedies. Experts suggest that preventing future incidents requires community-wide efforts, including secure gun storage policies and increased vigilance from families, schools, and law enforcement. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. Trigger warning: violence and killings Dear reader, It is with deep pain and sadness that we mark another fatal school shooting in the Philippines. When I first got alerted to it, I was beside my daughter as she was taking her Grade 1 class, virtual because of the southwest monsoon. It is horrifying that the Ateneo de Zamboanga shooting took place only two months after the school shooting in Tacloban City, in June. Last February, there was a school shooting in Batangas. The October before that, in Marikina. At least three of these incidents — the Zamboanga City, Tacloban City, and Marikina shootings — have one thing in common: the guns used were licensed firearms. For the first two, in fact, the adults who legally owned the guns were in public service. (LIST: Cases of school violence in the Philippines in 2026) The father of the student behind the Ateneo de Zamboanga shooting was a Bureau of Customs official, a district commander of the Port of Zamboanga. It bears recalling that Arla Ray Paciencia, aunt of one of the minors behind the Tacloban City shooting, was a non-commissioned police officer. In the Marikina incident, the gun used was licensed and belonged to the student’s father, according to reports. (READ: Education advocates call for better school safety after Ateneo de Zamboanga shooting) We’re all asking one question: how can we prevent this from happening again? I found myself looking to the US for answers. I agree with what many experts are saying: watchful family and friends, mental health services, protections against radicalization both online and offline, and involved and vigilant schools are key. What stood out from US initiatives was secure gun storage policies. Of course, in the US, this conversation is happening along with the larger call to ban guns because of how widespread gun ownership is there. Not the case for the Philippines. But it feels particularly relevant to the recent school shootings here because the guns were issued to people who were licensed to have them. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, in the aftermath of the Tacloban shooting, called for criminal liability against owners of guns which were used to commit crimes. But punishment is only one part of a comprehensive response. There has to be a community-wide effort to ensure guns, including those that people in authority are allowed to have, don’t end up in the hands of kids. According to advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, 22 states in the US have some form of a secure firearm storage law. Cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York have firearm storage ordinances. Our own law on gun ownership, Republic Act No. 10591, doesn’t say much about safe firearm storage. It does mention that one needs to pass a “gun safety seminar” by the Philippine National Police to own a gun, apart from other requirements like a psychiatric test and police clearance. With this tragic trend we’re seeing, do schools now have to tell families to keep their guns far away from their kids (like some US school districts are doing)? Do our law enforcement agencies and uniformed personnel have to issue more frequent and empathic reminders to their staff to store their guns safely? It sounds like common sense, it should be. But the last two school shootings prove it’s not common enough. I look at the times when a school shooting in the Philippines was successfully foiled. The PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) was able to rescue seven students of a Laguna school from carrying out an attack. What worked? A tip from a foreign security agency about how the kids were being radicalized online, followed through by tracking by ACG operatives. The DILG had also been alerted last June about Facebook posts of a teenager in Tolosa, Leyte about planning a shooting or stabbing. The tip came from Senator Bam Aquino, said Secretary Remulla at a press conference. There should be many opportunities to stop school violence. It won’t hurt to put in as many measures as possible, in case one, or two, or three fail. We need more public discussions about this. MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, plans to host a multi-sectoral conversation in our newsroom in early September. We want to invite mental health professionals, guidance counselors, school administrators, parent groups, security officials, child safety experts, and more. Jene Pangue, our MovePH lead, is calling this a “civic circle” — part forum, part hands-on workshop with experts and community leaders to create practical community safety plans, joint emergency response protocols, and local policy proposals to protect students and schools from violence. To reach as many people as possible, we aim to livestream at least part of it, and get questions and insights from viewers through the Education chat room on the Rappler app. Would you be interested in this initiative? Do you have suggestions to make this more effective and impactful? Do you have any experts or groups to recommend? Let me know. Your A-Z guide to the national budget From confidential funds, to flood control corruption, to pork barrel, we have every reason to be extra vigilant about how the national budget is created. – Rappler.com Be the Good is a newsletter that comes out every other Wednesday. 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