It was the type of news that jarred the senses because it was the first time it happened in the country. Government officials called it an “unprecedented tragedy.”
On the morning of June 22 of this year, two students, aged 14 and 15, bypassed the security checks of San Jose National High School in Tacloban City.
One student carried in his bag a Glock 17 pistol, the other carried a .38-caliber revolver. At past 9 a.m. both opened fire indiscriminately inside the school’s crowded rooms and hallways. And then the shooting stopped, but not after killing three students and wounding 20 more.
Schools in the Philippines have finally joined the list of campuses around the world where the students shoot students. There is public uproar, calls for senate and congressional investigations, and moves from the executive branch to resolve the issue at the soonest possible time.
STUDENT CRIME PREVENTION COUNCILS
As early as 1994, the Department of Education (DepEd), by virtue of Department Order 101, s. 1994, initiated the creation of Student Crime Prevention Councils in all institutions of learning.
Through CHED Memorandum Order No. 42, Series of 2005, the implementing guidelines for the Creation of Student Crime Prevention Councils in all Colleges and Universities were called into effect.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between and among the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Education (DepEd), and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) enjoined all colleges and universities to organize Student Crime Prevention Councils (SCPCs) and provide full support to the crime prevention campaign of the government.
The DepEd Memorandum Order stipulated that every college and university should create/organize a Student Crime Prevention Committee under the Student Council in every school.
Specific duties and responsibilities were spelled out to guide the conduct of the SCPC. These included: Formulation of crime prevention programs and coordination with the President of the Parent-Teachers Community Association (PTCA) or Parents Teachers Association (PTA); Coordination with the School Principal or Dean, the maintenance of peace and order within the school campus; recommending the conduct of seminars or trainings on crime and drug prevention and control in coordination with the NAPOLCOM regional office, local police station or DILG-Patrol 117;Conducting intensive information drive on crime prevention, particularly on drug abuse, alcoholism, illegal gambling, fraternity quarrels, hazing, and other undersirable activities; and reporting all illegal activities of students and/ or recommend the imposition of appropriate sanction by the school authorities.
Despite the carefully prepared guidelines for curbing criminality in schools, there remained incidents of crime on campus.
CONTINUING CRIMES
On July 8, 2024, media reported that an 18-year-old, UP Diliman student was robbed and stabbed along Valenzuela Street in Barangay UP Campus, near the College of Electrical Engineering and the National Science Complex.
The crime happened at around 8 p.m. Three men cornered the woman and pulled a knife, declaring a holdup.
When she screamed for help, one of the suspects stabbed her multiple times.
A year earlier, in July 2023, major broadsheets and broadcast networks reported of still another female UP Diliman student becoming a victim of crime. This time, the woman was sexually assaulted and attacked along Ylanan Street near the far end of the UP Baseball field.
The Philippines Graphic is reprinting a report on a violent crime committed inside the UP Campus on Feb. 20, 2012 to better illustrate the dynamics of crime as handled inside the nation’s premier university (see pages 55-56).
It likewise returns to a 2012 story on a 2009 research on crime and how it can be prevented inside the UP Campus. It seems ironic that the areas the study identified as crime-prone remain today, 17 years later, as scenes of crimes victimizing UP students (see pages 57-59).
“ISSUE-ATTENTION CYCLE”
In the United States, as early as 1972, American economist, author, and public policy expert Anthony Downs published a seminal article in the Summer 1972 issue of the Public Interest Journal, that discussed the cycle of repeating behavior on domestic issues.
In his theoretical essay, Downs puts across this observation: “American public attention rarely remains sharply focused upon any one domestic issue for very long—even if it involves a continuing problem of crucial importance to society.
He added that faced with a continuing problem, there comes a systematic “issue-attention cycle” that seems strongly to influence public attitudes and behavior concerning most key domestic problems.
“Each of these problems suddenly leaps into prominence, remains there for a short time, and then—though still largely unresolved—gradually fades from the center of public attention,” Downs said.
In the Philippines, academics have referred to Downs’ “issue-attention cycle” to explain the behavior of media and political figures in propelling issues to prominence until public attention fades, even if the issue remains unresolved, only for the cycle to repeat when a new crime occurs.
“CRIME-OF-THE-WEEK”
Research tracking local news cycles reveals that media coverage of specific crime waves structurally conforms to Downs’ model.
A highly visible or gruesome incident creates a sudden spike in public attention. The public demands immediate police checkpoints and new local ordinances.
However, because systemic solutions require expensive police modernization and long-term poverty alleviation, media coverage drops as soon as the initial shock wears off, returning the issue to a state of public apathy. —Psyche Roxas-Mendoza
This article appeared in the June 2026 Special Issue of the Philippines Graphic.
