Authorities are up against a faceless, far-reaching enemy when it comes to the problem of escalating school violence, which has involved two deadly school shootings in the past two months.

This was the takeaway from the House Committee on Appropriations' budget hearing with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Monday, Aug. 24, which also involved the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

According to these agencies, there are "groomers" in online games and certain group chats that espouse violence among the youth.

During Monday's briefing, DOJ Secretary Frederick Vida was asked about the status of the investigation on the San Jose National High School shooting in Tacloban City, Leyte last June 22.

Vida told solons that the gun owner had already been indicted by the local government for criminal negligence.

The DOJ chief also revealed that investigators found “groomers” who invite young people into separate chat rooms after engaging them in online games.

According to him, authorities are now monitoring these groups.

"This has been conveyed and relayed to our law enforcement agencies...yung mga naglalaro po, yun pong mga anak natin o yung nagpa-particpate sa games, mayroon invitation sa kanila to join a separate chat room na kung saan ang nakikita po nating pattern, may mga groomers po na tinatawag doon where they are enhanced, yung level of violence, yung level of getting more points," Vida said.

(Those who play, our children or those who participate in games, receive invitations to join a separate chat room where, as the pattern shows, there are so‑called groomers who enhance the level of violence and the level of getting more points.)

He said they are still looking into the "exact extent and exact motivation" of these groomers.

The San Jose National High School shooters--aged 14 and 15--got hold of a .9 pistol and a .38 revolver. The Grade 9 students killed three fellow minors before they were subdued.

This has since been followed by the Aug. 18 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City. The shooter, also a Grade 9 student, killed one fellow student before turning the gun to himself.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag says the Tacloban shooting was not being treated as an isolated case.

More disturbing was his revelation that there were group chats that planned and "scheduled" such attacks. He says there are now under surveillance.

"As early as doon sa event ng Tacloban, we see that it is not an isolated case but it is designed na ganyan talaga na gagawin nila. And we monitored that mayroon pa silang mga naka-schedule sila na mga previous attacks in the coming months," Matibag said told the appropriations panel.

(As early as the Tacloban event, we saw that it was not an isolated case but something deliberately planned to be carried out. And we monitored that they even had scheduled previous attacks in the coming months.)

"In fact there is a group chat na mayroon sila na we used to monitor pero nag-disband sila," he added.

(In fact, there was a group chat they had that we used to monitor, but they disbanded.)

As part of the response, Matibag said Philippine representatives will meet with Meta in Singapore on Wednesday, Aug. 26 to discuss these online groups.

The delegation will include representatives from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Office of the Executive Secretary, the Office of the House Speaker, and the NBI.