The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday flagged growing gang activity amongst learners because the agency grapples with reports of school-related violence nationwide.
“We appreciate the statement of the PNP (Philippine National Police) Chief Nartatez that they’ll increase police visibility in schools because we also saw gang activity,” Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara told reporters in Filipino during an interview.
“Gangs and their members are increasing. Other gangs began throughout the pandemic and have continued to this present day,” he added.
Gang fights, which arise from conflicts inside a classroom, often proceed outside the college premises after class hours. “More people would join the fight outside, and sometimes even those that aren’t students will join,” said Mr. Angara.
To stop further aggravation, the agency has boosted police presence around campus to foil physical violence amongst students. “Police visibility could be very vital because when the police see them, they don’t assemble anymore.”
The Education chief also expressed support for banning and regulating violent online games, equivalent to Gorebox, that will suggest ideas of gang behaviors and other harmful activities.
“As President Marcos said, if we’ve got to ban them, we must always ban them. His point is, we must always take heed to the experts because they’re those who’ve experience on this matter,” he said.
“Other games, like I believe Gorebox, it’s very violent because the purpose of that game is to prepare as gangs and to inflict harm upon the opposite,” he added. “So, I believe those which can be similar ought to be banned or regulated.”
Gorebox, a violent, physics-driven sandbox and first-person shooter developed by F2Games, was taken down from the country’s Google Play Store and Steam last month, after being linked to a fatal school shooting in Tacloban City.
Authorities said that certainly one of the perpetrators, aged 14, had avidly played Gorebox, which could have contributed to the tragic incident.
“We’re aware that the violence is increasing,” Mr. Angara said. “As experts said, it could be brought on by exposure to damaging social media sites, bad influences, groomers, and terrorist groups online which can be actively recruiting so we’re attempting to limit the exposure of kids there.”
“This just isn’t much in comparison with the number of colleges because we’ve got possibly 47,000, 48,000 schools so, if we’ve got one, a number of incidents, it’s still relatively not a source of concern,” he added.
Authorities have recorded 15 school-related violence and threats nationwide from June 16 to July 6. Amongst these is the college shooting in San Jose National High School (SJNHS) in Tacloban City that led to a few deaths and injured 20 others. — Almira Louise S. Martinez