Authorities foil 53 attacks hatched after Cotabato school shooting

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities stopped 53 school shootings being planned in South Cotabato right after the Sept. 18 shooting at Banga National High School that left three students dead, including the 16-year-old shooter.

“That night, that week, there were 53 planned school shootings in South Cotabato, and we stopped all of that,” Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Thursday in an ambush interview after the first Metro Manila School Safety and Security Summit 2026 in Quezon City.

Remulla added that over 50 people in Banga municipality who were involved in making online threats or “grooming” were arrested.

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“We couldn’t talk about it at the time because it was very sensitive and there were also children in conflict with the law but this problem is so serious so if people think that this is not priority number 1, it should be,” he said.

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READ: Three school shootings are three too many

Speaking at the summit, Remulla stressed that safeguarding children should go beyond emergency preparedness and response, stressing the need for greater adult involvement in their daily lives.

“Let’s be present in our children’s lives. Let’s be present in our students’ lives. Let’s be present in our families,” he said.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government secretary noted that children are increasingly exposed to online gaming, chat groups, social media and other digital platforms, but may not fully understand the risks and consequences of interacting with strangers or people who could exploit them.

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Remulla also called for regular discussions at home and in schools about online safety, grooming, peer influence and other threats, saying adults have a responsibility to guide children before they are exposed to harm.

“Because more than anything else, and more than all the challenges, this is the greatest challenge of all,” he said.

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Turbulent times

Remulla also said public safety efforts should not focus solely on responding to emergencies, adding “We cannot go on every day receiving a 911 call and say ‘We did our job.’”

“This has been one of the most turbulent times in Philippine history. Yet, we remain firm because the institutions are strong,” he said.

The Banga school shooting was the third such tragedy in the country after the first one at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City on June 22 that left three students dead and scores others wounded. The two shooters, both students of the school, were arrested although only one of them was charged.

On Aug. 18, a student at Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City killed another student before turning the gun on himself.

Authorities have been looking at the possible influence played by social media in the rise in school violence in recent months.

Following the Tacloban shooting, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center temporarily banned the video game GoreBox after one of the suspects, a 14-year-old student, was reported to be a frequent player of the online game that features weapon simulation and graphic violence.

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Last month, the National Telecommunications Commission blocked two websites allegedly being used by “groomers” to encourage minors to commit real-world crimes. /cb