MANILA, Philippines —The Philippine National Police (PNP) said it seeks pushing for stronger laws to curb all forms of violence within learning institutions particularly school shootings and stabbings to ensure the safety of students.
“Upon coordination, talk, meetings with our neighboring countries as well as our dialogue partners, meron silang ibang batas and we’ll try to consider,” PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. told reporters in a press conference during the 44th ASEANAPOL Conference on Saturday.
Pol. Brig. Gen. General Matthew B. Baccay, Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management chief, cited countries that the Philippines may follow in terms of specific legislation involving minors.
Australia in particular, he said, pushed laws on age-restricted use of social media banning minors under 16 years old access as well as imposing penalties on social media companies in case of any violation.
The PNP said it is seriously studying such measures following the recent series of school violence involving minors.
“Napagkasunduan na perhaps we can borrow certain legislations to help us prevent the use of social media that is very accessible to our children,” Baccay said.
Over the past months, a series of school violence hogged headlines. The most prominent one was the fatal shooting in Tacloban, Leyte where three students died and 20 were injured by two shooters who were minors aged 14 and 15.
“If other nations are looking after the law in Australia, pwede naman natin gayahin din o i-improve,” Nartatez said.
Violence involving minors was among the topics discussed during the 44th ASEANOPOL meetings alongside other transnational crimes out of particular concern on children in conflict with the law as well as online exploitation of minors.
The Philippines hosted this year’s ASEANOPOL Conference, the highest policy making forum for the national police organizations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing together police chiefs and senior officials to coordinate regional security and intelligence sharing.
The conference mainly focuses on solving transnational crime, operational collaboration and policy decisions on law enforcement.
Member nations include Brunei Darussalam (Royal Brunei Police Force), Cambodia (Cambodia National Police), Indonesia (Indonesian National Police), Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic Police), Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police), Myanmar (Myanmar Police Force), Philippines (Philippine National Police), Singapore (Singapore Police Force), Thailand (Royal Thai Police) and Vietnam (Vietnam Police Force).