Warning that student safety and access to quality education are non-negotiable national imperatives, Senate Committee on Basic Education Chairperson Senator Bam Aquino called for swift legislative action and aggressive government intervention to safeguard students, upgrade campus security and eliminate critical classroom delays across the country.
With the legislative budget cycle drawing near, Aquino vows to fight education budget cuts, target online radicalization and cut red tape for student safety and infrastructure.
He highlighted the critical urgency of addressing campus violence following recent school shooting incidents in Tacloban and Zamboanga, alongside several stabbing events nationwide. Aquino emphasized that the country must immediately adopt proactive measures to prevent copycat incidents.
“Hindi ito nangyari sa Pilipinas. But now that we’ve seen, dalawa na ito in a span of less than two months, mahalaga na umaksyon tayoka agad. And the way to really address this is multifaceted. We converted some of these bills, ginawa namin yung School Safety Act, which will improve the security of our schools greatly.
if we pass the School Safety Act, magkakaroon ng dagdag na pondo. Para sa security measures, magkakaroon ng mandato na kailangan ng national school safety framework na kailangan i-localize ng mga eskwelahan. Sa gayon, magkakaroon ng mgaprotocol. Anong dapat gawin,” he said.
The proposed School Safety Act mandates a comprehensive National School Safety Framework that includes physical security enhancements, such as walk-through or handheld metal detectors, expanded CCTV coverage, regular bag inspections and local security deployments involving police, barangay tanods and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) volunteers. It also establishes clear emergency response and medical coordination protocols to ensure immediate action during crises.
Addressing the root causes of youth violence, Aquino widely recognized as the Senate’s resident gamer, clarified that modern threats do not originate from video games, but rather from unmonitored online spaces where radicalization and grooming occur.
“It’s not the games. It’s really the chat groups. It’s the lack of controls pagdating sa infiltration ng mga chat groups. If you remember the Marawi Siege from many, many years ago, marami sa mga combatants doon, nalaman ko nalang later on, naradicalize sila through Facebook. You know, yung mga nararadicalize. So pagsinabi mo kasi yung radicalize, yung nabuyo, na gawin yung mga bagay na ganito, na extreme, na pumapatay ka ng tao, na karumal-dumal. That kind of radicalization happens online. You know, it happens online,” he explained.
The senator noted that the School Safety Act includes provisions empowering school heads and Local Government Units (LGUs) to restrict personal gadgets during class hours, while supporting broader measures against violent extremist chat groups targeting minors.
Turning to the national budget, Aquino also expressed strong resolve to oppose proposed reductions in the Department of Education (DepEd) and state universities.
“Yung budget equals priority. Kung priority mo yan, mapapondohan mo yan. Kung di mo yan priority, hindi mo yan mapapondohan. And sa Senate, minority and majority nag-agree na kailangan nito yung pinaka malaking pondo. Yung nasa Constitution natin yan. Na 4% of GDP yung pondo para sa edukasyon. We hit 4% last year. Right now, yung nilabas ng DBM nasa 3.5%. So kulang pa yan,” he said.
Aquino pledged that the Senate will work to keep total education spending at or above 4% of GDP which is the global standard achieved by lawmakers last fiscal year, to fully fund universal school feeding programs (covering Kindergarten to Grade 3), learner catch-up programs and security infrastructure.
Finally, Aquino called out severe bureaucratic bottlenecks delaying the construction of classrooms under the ₱67-billion allocation, urging agencies to work double time to deliver facilities before year-end.
“August na! Umulan na! Sabi ko, baliwala ang 67 billion kung hindi natin matatayo sabi ko, double time, triple time, over time yung kailangan natin dito to get these classrooms up. Because, every time delayed mag-build ng classroom, that’s another child na magdodouble shift, magtetriple shift. That’s another Filipino child na magkalassroom siya sa covered courts na apat sila doon, or nasa makeshift classroom siya na yung bubung yero lang. That’s another child na hindi makakakuha ng tamang edukasyon. So, we need to move faster. They need to implement this better. And i-release na nila sa mga LGU,” he said.
