ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Raffy Tulfo: 'It shouldn't have taken three students' deaths to improve school safety'

Raffy Tulfo: 'It shouldn't have taken three students' deaths to improve school safety'

Published Jun 29, 2026 01:57 pm

At A Glance

  • Sen. Raffy Tulfo welcomed the Department of Education's (DepEd) rollout of nationwide school safety measures but questioned why the agency implemented them only after the June 22 Tacloban City school shooting that killed three students.
  • Sen. Tulfo also said he had been pushing for hand-held metal detectors for school security guards since August 2025 and CCTV cameras in classrooms and common areas since March 2026, but the proposals were not acted on until after the tragedy.
  • The senator urged government agencies to address urgent safety concerns before lives are lost, saying public officials should not wait for deaths or injuries before taking action.
Senator Raffy Tulfo said on Monday, June 29, that the deaths of three students in a school shooting in Tacloban City should not have been the catalyst for stronger campus security.
Senator Raffy Tulfo (Senate PRIB photo)
Senator Raffy Tulfo (Senate PRIB photo)
Tulfo said this as he welcomed the Department of Education's (DepEd) rollout of new school safety measures while questioning why the agency waited until after the tragedy to act on recommendations he had been making for nearly a year.
DepEd recently announced nationwide security measures for public schools following the June 22 shooting at a campus in Tacloban City that claimed the lives of three students.
The measures, ordered by Education Secretary Sonny Angara, include deploying hand-held metal detectors to school security personnel and installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in public schools to enhance security and aid in gathering evidence during security incidents.
Tulfo said the measures mirrored recommendations he had repeatedly raised during Senate Committee on Basic Education hearings.
He said he first proposed equipping school security guards with hand-held metal detectors during the committee's Aug. 12, 2025, hearing, a recommendation that received support from DepEd Undersecretary Filimon Javier. During another hearing on March 17 this year, Tulfo said he reiterated the proposal and also recommended installing CCTV cameras in classrooms and other common areas.
Despite those discussions, the senator said the proposals were not implemented.
Following the Tacloban shooting, Tulfo said he immediately contacted Angara to follow up on the status of the recommendations. According to the senator, the education chief assured him that the department would implement the proposed security measures as soon as possible.
While welcoming DepEd's decision to finally adopt the measures, Tulfo lamented that action came only after lives had already been lost.
"Bagama't umaksyon na ang DepEd, ang tanong ay bakit ngayon lang? Dati ko pang iminumungkahi ang mga ito pero bakit kinailangan pang maraming buhay ang masayang bago sila kumilos? (Although DepEd has already taken action, the question is why only now? I’ve been recommending these measures for a long time, but why did it have to take so many wasted lives before they acted?)" Tulfo said.
He said the tragedy should serve as a reminder for government agencies to act on urgent concerns before they result in loss of life.
"Ang insidenteng ito ay paalala sa ating mga kawani ng gobyerno na huwag nang magantay na may mamatay o masaktan pa bago tayo gumawa ng hakbang tuwing magkakaroon ng suliranin na kailangan ng agarang aksyon (This incident is a reminder to our government officials not to wait until someone dies or gets hurt before we take action whenever there is a problem that requires urgent attention)," he said.

Related Tags

Raffy Tulfo Tacloban school shooting Department of Education Sonny Angara
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.