Top officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and their counterparts in Southeast Asia have discussed preventive measures against mass school shootings following the incident in Tacloban City early this month that left three students dead and 20 others wounded.

And one of that measures, according to PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez, Jr., is to simulate the legislative agenda of Australia where it banned social media access to minors under 16 years old and imposing penalties on social media companies in case of any violation.

In the case of the Tacloban school shooting, the shooters were 14-year old and 15-year old and the youngest of them was reported to have been addicted to Gorebox, an online game which Philippine authorities described as known for its graphic depiction of violence.

“The Tacloban school shooting was perpetrated by minors and they are CICL (Children in Conflict of the Law). Upon coordination and talk, meetings with our neighboring countries and dialogue partners, they have laws, best practices that we will try to consider,’ said Nartatez.

“If other nations are looking at the law in Australia, we can adopt it or improve,” he stressed.

The Tacloban school shooting was the first mass shooting in the Philippines, according to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla.

And following that incident that rocked the country’s neighbors in Southeast Asia, Nartatez said it was discussed during the discussion among the delegates of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Chiefs of Police, or the ASEANAPOL.

The Philippines, through the PNP, is this year’s host of the five-day event which started on July 22. ASEANAPOL is a regional organization that brings together the national police forces of ASEAN member countries to share information, build skills, and fight cross-border crimes.

Nartatez said the issue of school shootings cropped up during the discussion on peace order wherein the protection of children were cited, “The discussion was about transnational crime and it was mentioned because of the word children, minor, especially online cases against or exploitation against children.”

“And that was the time when the idea of having a legislative agenda, effort to address it cropped up,” said Nartatez.

The social media ban for minors would likely be recommended by the PNP to the Congress and Maj. Gen. Matthew Baccay, head of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), said the legislation could be patterned after that of Australia.

“During one of the discussions, the influence of social media was discussed and it was also cited that there is an existing ban in Australia on the use of social media of a certain age in their population,” said Baccay.

“It was agreed that perhaps we can borrow certain legislation to prevent the issue of social media and other platforms accessible to our children,’” he added.