MURDER IN THE CLASSROOM
“MAMA, papatayin niya ba ako?”
The words of a frightened 14-year-old girl pierced through the somber silence of the Senate hearing room.
She had spoken them just days before her life was taken in a brutal classroom stabbing, and now those same words haunt both her grieving family and the nation.
The girl’s story was at the center of the April 8, 2025 Senate Committee on Basic Education hearing, which tackled the increasingly violent reality inside the schools.
Her tragic death inside a Parañaque classroom, reportedly after months of being bullied, served as a chilling reminder of what’s at stake.
“Anong nangyari sa anak ko?” her mother cried during a news report played in the session.
Her voice cracked under the weight of anguish: “Wala naman sa tindahan ang buhay ng anak ko. Bakit gano’n kadali pinabayaan niyo?”
The girl’s murder was not an isolated case.
It was one of several incidents that prompted Senator Sherwin Gatchalian to call the hearing.
“Nakakabahala ang video,” Gatchalian said, referring to disturbing footage of school fights and assaults. “Pero para sa akin, mas nakakabahala isipin na itong mga batang ito ang susunod na mamamayan sana ng ating bansa.”
In a country where more than 50% of boys and 43% of girls report being bullied—according to the 2022 PISA report—the classroom is no longer a safe space.
Despite laws like the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 and Republic Act 11476 mandating values education through Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC), enforcement has reportedly remained weak and fragmented.
At the heart of the hearing was the testimony of Dr. Leonisa Romano, principal of Moonwalk National High School, where the fatal stabbing occurred.
She detailed how the incident unfolded in a matter of seconds.
Before the attack, the victim had already approached her guidance designate to report the threat.
But due to stretched resources and blurred responsibilities, prevention failed.
“Actually, wala po kaming guidance counselor,” Romano said. “Meron po kaming guidance designate every grade level… pero nagtuturo din po sila.”
Romano described a school with nearly 4,000 students and only 11 “watchmen” rotating shifts—no licensed counselors, and no mental health professionals permanently assigned.
After the stabbing, it was the same overstretched team who had to manage not just the legal process but the psychological fallout.
“Tatlong bata ang kailangan naming subaybayan… kasi meron pong hindi nagsasalita,” she said.
The broader system, she suggested, is also failing teachers.
“Sa dami po ng karapatan ng bata, hindi ka pwedeng magsalita ng nakakasakit sa kanilang damdamin,” she said, highlighting how fear of administrative complaints deters teachers from even intervening. “Ang mga teacher din po ay natatakot na.”
Romano’s testimony became a mirror for countless under-resourced public schools in the Philippines.
Many operate with a patchwork of guidance “designates” who split their time between counseling and regular teaching.
According to DepEd, there are only about 1,131 filled guidance counselor positions across over 47,000 public schools.
Based on Romano’s testimony, the shortage is so severe that it could reportedly take over a decade to fill based on the current supply of licensed professionals.
Even simple security measures, like bag inspections or metal detectors, are limited.
It was also revealed during the hearing that compounding the problem is the digital dimension of bullying.
Students no longer just witness violence—they film it, upload it, and share it.
In one of the videos shown at the Senate, eight students were seen recording an incident with their mobile phones.
“Parang nagiging palabas na yung bullying ngayon,” Gatchalian observed. “Everyone has a cellphone… at mananatili yan sa internet forever.”
This kind of viral cruelty adds another layer of trauma.
Victims are not only hurt physically but digitally immortalized—repeatedly reliving their humiliation online.
“So kahit matanda ka na, nakikita pa rin ng mga kaibigan mo, nakikita mo pa rin yung nangyari sa’yo nung bata ka,” Gatchalian warned.
Dr. Romano pleaded for urgent, systemic change: the hiring of more trained counselors, reinstating teachers’ monitoring roles during recess, and above all, cultural reform through GMRC.
The Senate now demands the full implementation of GMRC across all public schools by the 2025–2026 school year.
“We cannot wait anymore,” Gatchalian stressed. “We can’t wait for another child to die.”
