THE Filipino people, still reeling from the shock of two shooting events — the first one occurring on June 22, 2026, involving two male students in the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City fatally shooting three students and injuring 13 others and the second on Aug. 7, 2026, involving an 18-year-old student from Sta. Rosa Integrated School in Nueva Ecija — got a third shocking slaying occurrence on Aug. 18, 2026, at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City, committed by a Grade 9 student against a Grade 10 student of the same school.
In the first case, the 14- and 15-year-old male shooters opened fire inside a classroom. They said they carried out the attack because they were victims of bullying. It was ascertained that the weapons were taken from family members and acquaintances, including a police officer.
The second fatal shooting took the life of a 15-year-old student from the same school, said to be the ex-girlfriend of the young gunman.
In the third shooting tragedy, the shooter took his own life after shooting a teacher. The gun used belonged to his father, a customs official.
The first and second shootings happened less than a month apart from each other, while the third was a little more than a week after the second.
The successive shooting shockers not only are frightfully concerning but also dangerously place the students in all schools at peril. Given that those involved are of tender minds, relatively unaffected by the cruelties and wilds of the outside world, the dreadful situation puts parents and guardians on edge vis-à-vis the safety of their children and wards. The schools are supposed to be the next best safe place to home and places of worship. They are a place of learning on the ways and wonders of the world. They are a safe and delightful haven for students to grow to their fullest potential and certainly not a venue for violence, fear and killing.
One is at a loss how these Gen Zs could, in a flash, turn from young scholars enjoying the wonders of smartphones, ultra-tech gadgets, high-speed internet, ubiquitous social media, hyper-eclectic music of bedroom pop, indie, hip hop, and R&B, and intellectual pursuits into senseless and suicidal killers.
Psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists and medical doctors will have their own analyses of the history, influences, upbringing, mental faculties that shape and trigger the deadly snap of a youth, but we can only hope and pray that whatever ignited those deathly human combustions do not happen to our children.
Meanwhile, as we search for solutions to avert such tragedies, let us pause to consider some values and circumstances worth visiting, exploring and adopting.
The government, the constitutionally mandated protector of the people, must use its resources and power to halt, if not minimize, the occurrence of these tragic aberrations in our society.
No matter how a determined youthful killer is bent on inflicting deathly violence to his own kind and to others, he cannot execute his murderous binge if he does not possess nor have access to any weapon of destruction.
Under the law, only those who possess the qualifications and none of the disqualifications imposed by law can acquire or possess firearms. As those shooting rampages have shown, the shooters were able to obtain possession of those guns. The government must impose stiffer penalties on those whose reckless negligence enables the potential killers to have access to their licensed firearms.
The school authorities must be held criminally responsible for deaths or injuries occurring in the classrooms or in their premises arising from their failure to stop the entry of those firearms. Evidently, either there are no security measures or they are inadequate to prevent the inflow of firearms or other destructive weapons inside the schools.
Online games that propagate and encourage the youth to perform violent activities must be permanently banned.
Persons, high and low, government officials or private citizens who violate the laws of the land, commit crimes against persons and properties, steal taxpayers’ money, and violate the constitutional rights of the citizens — must be prosecuted and jailed. They must not get away with murder and plunder. If they are untouched, the young potential killers will follow their wicked ways. We are all witnesses to this impunity and there appears to be no escape from it.
The family home should be the breeding ground for love, respect, care, harmony, dialogue, humility, compassion, understanding and ethical conduct, godly qualities that the family members should be imbibed with and observed as they intermingle with their fellow human beings.
The golden rule must be consciously exercised by everyone as a lifetime guiding principle.
Authorities, worshipers, followers and advocates of all religions must all be walking testaments of their faith.
The parents, the schools and the government must put their heads together and single-mindedly pursue meaningful and productive changes in our society.
Shall we?
