Sawt Falasteen - Rare Philippine school shooting kills three teens, wounds seven

The two alleged shooters, aged 15 and 14, had fired "randomly" inside San Jose National High School, police Lieutenant Evalyn Diaz told AFP of the violence that sent terrified students running for cover.

Irvin Nogar, a 52-year-old social studies teacher, told AFP he was in the middle of a class at the school in Leyte province's Tacloban City when he heard several "loud gun shots".

"I saw a shooter walking towards our area, so I told the students to be calm and hide under their desks and I locked the door... they were crying and in panic."

A video widely circulated by local media and verified by AFP showed panicked children screaming and crying while hiding inside a classroom amid the sound of gunfire.

Jennelyn Badoria, mother of a slain 15-year-old student, told AFP she believed whoever had given the shooters access to guns must be held accountable.

"I'm asking that the gun owners be charged, because the guns wouldn't have ended up in the children’s hands if it weren't for them," she said in an interview outside the school.

Diaz, the police lieutenant, said they had heard "bullying was the motive", but that the two alleged shooters were still being interrogated.

"We're still getting the guns, checking where they got those, and how they were able to bring that inside the school," she said.

"They are still in the police station undergoing questioning in the presence of their parents because they are minors."

A 2022 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report found over half of Filipino boys and 43 percent of girls reported being bullied "at least a few times a month" -- more than double the rate of OECD countries.

- 'Grief and fear' -

There was no immediate update on the status of the seven wounded students, who were receiving treatment at a local hospital. An earlier police tally had placed their number at five.

The Philippine Department of Education issued a statement calling it a "high-alert situation".

"Our Central Office officials, alongside regional and division office personnel, are active on the ground, coordinating closely with school authorities and law enforcement to secure the premises," it said.

While school shootings are a rarity in the Philippines, seven students were wounded last month in a knife attack by an older student in Cavite province.

President Ferdinand Marcos's spokeswoman on Monday said the president had been "saddened by what happened".

"Anyone, especially the parents of the victims, would feel grief and fear," Claire Castro told reporters, adding that unspecified measures were being taken to ensure safety at public spaces including schools.

In 2022, three people, including a former city mayor, were killed in a shooting incident before a graduation ceremony at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippine capital.

It was later determined to have been an assassination driven by "personal motives".

Legal gun ownership is tightly regulated in the Southeast Asian country, but a large black market exists for firearms.

I.Yassin--SF-PST