Three students lost their lives in a school shooting in the southern Philippines on Friday, with a 16-year-old suspected gunman taking his own life, according to provincial authorities. The incident, which occurred in Banga town in South Cotabato, also left eight others wounded, four of them in critical condition. All the victims were students between the ages of 14 and 17, as stated by Albert Palencia, the mayor of the town.
Palencia revealed that the suspected gunman had warned his friends to leave after lunch as he planned to carry out an attack, initially taken as a joke due to his known humoristic nature. However, after lunch, the shooter opened fire on students, injuring 10 before fatally shooting himself.
In a radio interview, Palencia mentioned that the suspected perpetrator seemed to have shot randomly at students in a neighboring classroom after leaving his own Grade 9 class. The gunman reportedly used a 9-mm pistol that belonged to his father, who worked for the Department of Education, accessing it by breaking into a secured vault where the firearm was stored.
Following the tragic incident, South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo urged parents to ensure firearms are securely stored away from minors, emphasizing the need for responsible gun ownership. Tamayo stressed the importance of collective efforts to prevent such tragedies, especially in schools, where security personnel may be limited in monitoring a large student population.
This school shooting adds to a series of recent gun-related incidents in the Philippines, a country where such occurrences were uncommon in the past. Prior to this event, a student in Zamboanga live-streamed himself fatally shooting another student before ending his own life, while a separate attack in Tacloban led to the death of three students and injuries to around 20 others. Despite strict regulations on gun ownership, including background checks and psychological evaluations, the presence of illegal firearms remains a challenge in the country.
