MANILA, Philippines – Not even half of public schools in the country have installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and have security guards, the Department of Education (DepEd) reported on Thursday, July 9. 

The DepEd found that only 36% of some 48,000 public schools, or around 17,000, have installed CCTV cameras, Education Undersecretary Malcolm Garma told senators during a hearing for a comprehensive school safety bill. 

Garma said most of the schools with CCTV cameras are located in hotspot areas, including highly urbanized areas.  

He said that 13,802 schools have less than 10 CCTV cameras set up on campus. The number of CCTV cameras depends on the size of the school.

The DepEd recently conducted a nationwide school safety and security audit following the fatal shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City on June 22. Garma said the Tacloban school had eight working CCTV cameras, but authorities found blind spots.

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“It’s really, I think, purely recording,” Garma said of the function of the security cameras.

“The monitor is placed inside the school principal’s office, so maybe the principal does not have enough time to watch the CCTV on a daily basis because of the large amount of work to be done,” he also said in Filipino.

“That’s also one thing that we would like to strengthen, that it’s not only the recording, but there should be a review of the CCTV and analysis,” he added. 

The DepEd official said the schools with CCTV cameras may have bought these cameras through their maintenance and other operating expenses fund or the local government unit’s special education fund. Some may also be donations.

Meanwhile, only one in every 10 schools have metal detectors. Some schools in Metro Manila have walk-through detectors.

Big schools are currently facing challenges with long queues amid stricter bag searches, according to Garma.

“Let us not stop with checking devices because if there are no personnel handling them or there is no proper usage, it will not be a solution,” Senator Bam Aquino, chairman of the Senate committee on basic education, said in Filipino. 

Garma reported that just three in every 10 public schools, or over 15,300 schools, have security guards.

“We cannot assume that these are the blue guards. Many of them would be falling under the classification of watchmen,” he said.

The DepEd previously said there is a shortage of security guards for public schools due to rationalization or manpower reduction. According to the agency, there are currently 2,242 security guards hired for schools, while 252 positions remain vacant.

Aquino said they are eyeing to put a provision in the proposed school safety law that barangay tanods or watchmen may be tapped to be security personnel of small schools. The DepEd must also determine which schools must be staffed with formal security guards.

He also said possible funding for the procurement of security devices for public schools would be through the bill.

DepEd worried about copycat threats

During the hearing, Aquino also asked the DepEd about multiple incidents of school violence and threats to school safety, including the Tacloban shooting, that were reported within 20 days. 

Garma said similar incidents have been reported before, but the DepEd observed that they increased after the tragedy in Tacloban City. 

He said the DepEd was “really concerned” with the reported threats of bombing and shooting.

“The [Philippine National Police] said, when we had a meeting with them, there is always the tendency of the copycat phenomenon,” Garma said in Filipino. 

“So this is one of the things that we want to look at, and the DepEd wants to receive help with, on how to prevent this copycat phenomenon. I think the more that the stories are really being exposed on social media, the more that they become curious.”

Following the Tacloban school shooting, the DepEd updated its security protocols to include emergency response for active mass shooting. It will also simulate an active shooter drill for schools for the first time. – Rappler.com

Quotes were translated to English for brevity.