Schools across the Philippines began taking part in active intruder drills designed to prepare students and staff for an armed attack, a type of exercise the country has not previously treated as routine.
At Carlos F. Gonzales High School north of Manila, about 3,000 junior and senior high school students crouched behind barricaded classroom doors, switched off lights and pulled curtains shut as police moved through the corridors. Teachers and school staff also joined the 12-minute exercise, and around 250 personnel took part in the Bulacan drill alongside police and emergency responders.
The Department of Education says the nationwide drills are part of a broader effort to strengthen school security after two rare shooting incidents in recent months. The shift matters because Philippine schools already conduct regular earthquake and fire drills, but active shooter preparation is new. Education Undersecretary Malcolm Garma said schools needed to learn to recognize the threat and respond to it as part of a formal emergency routine.
The department also moved to soften the most realistic elements of the exercises after mental health advocates warned that hyper-realistic drills could cause lasting psychological harm. The updated guidelines prohibit graphic threat simulations and active-aggressor role-playing, and instead rely on a distinct early warning alarm separate from fire and earthquake signals. Officials say that approach is meant to build procedural muscle memory without causing unnecessary distress.
The drill created mixed reactions among families and school leaders. One teacher, Roy Fama, said the exercise was scary but necessary because it can help students and staff prepare for a situation once considered unthinkable in the Southeast Asian country. At the same time, April Tapion, a parent with Grade 5 and Grade 8 children, said she remained uncomfortable with sending them into the exercise because she feared it might make them see the world as full of danger.
School administrators are also debating whether the drills should be the main response to the threat. Karina Mallonga, director of the Infant Jesus Academy Kalibo Campus, said schools should put more weight on support systems such as guidance programs, classroom advisers and encouraging students to speak openly about their concerns. Her view reflects the tension running through the policy shift: security planners want schools to be ready for an attack, while educators and parents worry about the psychological cost of normalizing one.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who watched the Bulacan exercise, said the drills were not only about how students react during a crisis but also about improving coordination among local police and emergency units. That coordination is central to the education department's approach, which treats the drill as a shared response rather than a classroom-only exercise.
For now, the country appears to be building a new emergency playbook for schools. The drills are a response to a threat that is still rare, but the government is signaling that it wants students, teachers and first responders to know exactly what to do if it ever becomes real.
