A rare shooting at a public high school in the central Philippines that left three students dead and seven injured has gripped the country amid concerns over campus safety and the mental well-being of young people.Two Grade 9 students, aged 14 and 15, were arrested over the incident at the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte province.The weapons involved were a .38 revolver and a 9mm pistol – the latter of which was traced to a police officer who was one of the suspects’ aunts. Authorities said the .38 revolver was linked to a security agency in Cebu City.An initial investigation by the Philippine National Police pointed to a grudge from school bullying as the cause of the violence.“We have taken custody of the 2 CICL [Child in Conflict with the Law] suspects … initially, it appears that the motive of the crime was grudge for school bullying,” national police spokesman Colonel Allen Rae Co said at a media briefing.People look through the gates of San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte province, the Philippines, on Monday, following a shooting incident. Photo: EPAA report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted an anonymous teacher who described one of the suspects as “quiet [and] socially withdrawn”, and had been held back a year due to poor academic performance.
Fatal shooting exposes ‘systemic failures’ in Philippine schools
The tragedy has sparked concern among educators amid the rise of bullying in public schools and the lack of safety mechanisms on campus.
Two 14-15-year-old students killed three peers and injured seven at a Philippine school over bullying. Exposes systemic gaps in school security and mental-health monitoring—institutional risk-management failure.










