More proactive measures needed for school safety – PNP

MANILA, Philippines — Education and law enforcement authorities must implement “more proactive” measures to ensure safety in the country’s schools, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Wednesday.

“We’re helping DepEd officials and other training institutions. We’ve been doing that continuously,” PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in Filipino in an interview with reporters in Camp Crame on Wednesday.

“It’s just that we need to have some programs and activities that are more proactive and will properly deny violent incidents which puts students in harm’s way,” Nartatez added.

READ: DepEd pilots active threat drills in schools to prevent incidents

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in his fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday, vowed that the PNP will coordinate more closely with DepEd and local government units to better secure schools.

Marcos’ statement came weeks after the fatal shooting incident at a Tacloban City high school last June, in which three students were killed and at least 20 others were wounded.

“We won’t necessarily be placing police desks at every school. There are thousands of schools around the country. If we placed a police desk at each one, it wouldn’t be efficient,” said Nartatez.

“We calibrate our deployment. That’s why we have coordination. We’ll strengthen that coordination. The idea here is that extending police assistance and the maintenance of peace and order are efficient.” /gsg