Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, August 19, called for stronger safety measures in schools, including psychosocial wellness programs, anti-bullying initiatives and closer monitoring of students and school personnel to help prevent school shootings.

Duterte, who visited victims of the Zamboanga shooting, underscored the importance of schools having systems that can identify students and personnel who may need assistance, counseling or other forms of intervention.

“Madami tayong dapat gawin: una-unang dapat meron tayong psychosocial wellness program sa loob ng ating paaralan. Iba yung anti-bullying program sa loob din ng ating paaralan (We have a lot to do. First and foremost, we must have a psychosocial wellness program inside our schools, which is distinct from our anti-bullying program),” she said.

Duterte stressed that monitoring should not be limited to students, noting that school personnel should also be included.

“At dapat meron tayong pagmo-monitor sa ating mga estudyante at hindi lang sa kanila, kasama na yung mga school personnel kasi posibleng sa kanila din manggagaling yung mga active shooters sa lahat ng community sa loob ng paaralan (We also need to monitor our students, and not just them—school personnel should be included as well because it is possible that active shooters could also come from within the school community),” Duterte said.

“Dapat meron tayong pagmo-monitor (We must monitor everyone in the school community),” she added.

Duterte stressed that authorities should be able to determine whether members of the school community need help, counseling or other forms of intervention.

“Kung kailangan ba nila ng tulong, kailangan ba ng counseling, so dapat ma-catch ’yun ng ating mga school authorities (If they need help or counseling, our school authorities should be able to catch that early),” she said.

Duterte said the Office of the Vice President (OVP) is also looking into how it could help schools prepare for possible incidents.

“Nandito din kami para magtanong sa iba't ibang paaralan paano makatulong ang Office of the Vice President sa pagiging handa nila sa mga iba't ibang posibleng mangyari sa loob ng mga eskwelahan (We are also here to ask various schools how the Office of the Vice President can help them prepare for different scenarios that might happen inside schools),” she said.

Duterte said the OVP has a disaster operations center and considers incidents such as shootings as tragedies or disasters alongside natural and other man-made emergencies.

“At yung mga ganyang pangyayari tulad ng pamamaril ay kino-konsidera namin na isang trahedya, isang kalamidad, isang disaster (And incidents such as shootings are considered by us as a tragedy, a calamity, or a disaster),” she added.