A video widely circulated by local media showed panicked children screaming and crying while hiding inside a classroom as the sound of active gunfire echoed through the halls.
The victims were rushed to a local hospital, where three were pronounced dead. While initial tallies fluctuated, police confirmed that seven other students sustained injuries and continue to receive medical treatment.
Investigators are currently exploring bullying as the primary motive behind the mass casualty event. "We heard bullying was the motive, but the two alleged shooters are still being interrogated," Lt. Diaz stated, adding that the questioning is taking place in the presence of the suspects' parents due to their minor status. "We’re still getting the guns, checking where they got those, and how they were able to bring them inside the school."
The tragic incident has sparked national outrage regarding firearm accessibility. Jennelyn Badoria, the mother of a 15-year-old student killed in the shooting, demanded swift justice for those who enabled the minors. "I’m asking that the gun owners be charged, because the guns wouldn’t have ended up in the children’s hands if it weren’t for them," Badoria said. While legal gun ownership is tightly regulated in the Southeast Asian country, a massive black market for firearms persists.
The shooting has also renewed scrutiny on school environments in the Philippines. A 2022 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revealed that over half of Filipino boys and 43 percent of girls experience bullying "at least a few times a month"—more than double the global OECD average.
The Philippine Department of Education issued a statement classifying the incident as a "high-alert situation," confirming that regional and central office personnel are on the ground collaborating with law enforcement to secure the premises.
A spokeswoman for President Ferdinand Marcos expressed the administration's deep sorrow over the tragedy. "Anyone, especially the parents of the victims, would feel grief and fear," Claire Castro told reporters, adding that the government is reviewing unspecified measures to bolster safety in public spaces and schools nationwide.
While campus shootings remain exceptionally rare in the Philippines, the tragedy follows an incident last month where seven students were wounded in a knife attack at a school in Cavite province. In 2022, a shooting at Ateneo de Manila University killed three people, though that incident was later determined to be a targeted, politically motivated assassination rather than a random act of school violence.