School shooting ‘cannot be our new normal’ – Hontiveros

MANILA, Philippines – Following the school shooting incident in South Cotabato, Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Friday stressed that such incidents must not become the country’s “new normal.”

Six students were killed and 17 others injured after a shooting at Banga National High School in South Cotabato on Friday afternoon.

“Nakakadurog ng puso na may isa na namang school shooting sa ating bansa… This cannot be our new normal,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

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(It is heartbreaking that there is another school shooting in our country… This cannot be our new normal.)

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READ: 3 dead, 8 wounded in South Cotabato school shooting

Hontiveros said the government should address the factors behind youth violence, noting that no single law or intervention would be enough.

“Government needs to do a real accounting of how we are failing our children,” she said.

She called for action on mental health, parental supervision, access to firearms, school security, nihilistic violent extremism and the role of online platforms in the radicalization and exposure of young people to violence.

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Similarly, Sen. Loren Legarda called on government agencies to probe into the incident, and respond accordingly.

“May malinaw nang babala na may mga butas sa ating sistema na kailangang ayusin ngayon,” Legarda pointed out in a statement.

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(There is a clear warning that there are holes in our system that need to be fixed now.)

“I am calling on the Department of Education, the Philippine National Police, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and concerned local authorities to determine how the firearm used in this incident was obtained and brought into the school, whether there were warning signs beforehand, and where existing safety and prevention mechanisms failed,” she continued.

Legarda also urged authorities to review school security protocols and the availability of mental health services for students.

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“We cannot bring back the lives that were lost. But we can do something to prevent more families from having to go through this,” she said. /dp