Gatchalian wants fund allocated for classroom CCTVs vs school bullying
The issue of school bullying coming to fore in ongoing Senate hearing. Inquirer photo/Marianne Bermudez.
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian has signified his intent to make a motion, during 2026 budget deliberations, on the inclusion of a budget for closed-circuit television or CCTV in schools.
He said that would empower the fight against school bullying.
Gatchalian made the pronouncement during the Senate panel on basic education’s public hearing on Tuesday.
READ: DepEd probes alleged student bullying in Quezon City
“Maybe it’s about time to already allocate a separate budget for CCTV and I will move for the 2026 budget [to] include a separate item for CCTVs in schools,” said panel head Gatchalian.
The senator said the placement of CCTVs would be a good preventive measure to prevent bullying.
“We, ourselves, if we know that there is a CCTV, we think many times before we do something bad. So in order to protect our schools, students, and teachers — it’s about time that we allocate separate budget for CCTVs,” he said in mixture of Filipino and English.
The Senate’s basic education panel chaired by Gatchalian probed recent incidents of bullying and violence in public schools.
Gatchalian has sounded the alarm on recent incidents of bullying and violence in schools. The most recent of which involved female learners taking turns pulling the hair of a fellow classmate in a public school in Quezon City.
