Parents wait anxiously at the school gate for updates from authorities. (Facebook/Metropolitan Mindanao Broadcasting Network)
MANILA, Philippines — A shooting inside a public high school in the central Philippines on Monday left three students dead and seven others wounded. The US-style school shooting shocked the nation, where such attacks are rare, and prompted investigators to examine whether years of bullying may have played a role in the violence.
The attack unfolded shortly after 9 a.m. inside a Grade 9 classroom at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, where two boys, ages 14 and 15, allegedly opened fire with a Glock pistol and a .38-caliber revolver, according to police. Authorities said the attacked killed three students — two girls and one boy — and injured seven others. Officials said all of the wounded are in stable condition.
Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy, director of the Police Regional Office in Eastern Visayas, in an interview with Sunstar, said preliminary interviews suggested that the two ninth-grade suspects, who are close friends, may themselves have been victims of persistent bullying dating back to seventh grade. “Based on our initial investigation, they may have experienced bullying since Grade 7, and interviews are continuing with social workers, teachers and school officials,” Capoy said.
The findings remain preliminary, and investigators have not established a direct motive. Authorities are still trying to determine whether the gunfire was directed at specific students. Most of the victims were female, leading investigators to question early assumptions that a particular individual had been targeted.
The episode has drawn comparisons to school shootings more commonly associated with the United States, where researchers and psychologists have long cautioned that bullying, social isolation and untreated emotional distress can contribute to violent behavior, though they are rarely the sole cause.
Police said they recovered both firearms and were investigating how two minors obtained the weapons and managed to bring them onto campus. Security at the school appeared limited. Capoy said the campus has multiple entrances and exits but only one security guard. At the time of the attack, the guard stood at the guardhouse, and school authorities may not have strictly enforced routine frisking.
“Authorities will place the two boys under the custody of the city’s social welfare office as they continue their investigation.
The Department of Education described the shooting as a “high‑alert situation” and said officials from the national, regional, and local offices had deployed to coordinate with law enforcement and school authorities.
The education department said it had already mobilized medical assistance and psychological support for students and personnel affected by what it called a deeply traumatic event. “We strongly condemn this act of violence and extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” the agency said.
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The shooting has reignited concerns about school safety, mental health and bullying in the Philippines, where deadly campus attacks are uncommon but where reports of harassment among students have increasingly drawn public attention.
For grieving families and classmates, however, the larger questions remain painfully immediate: How did two teenagers gain access to firearms? Were warning signs missed? And could years of unchecked bullying have contributed to one of the deadliest school shootings in recent Philippine history?
Those answers, authorities say, are still emerging.
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