By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
With President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s renewed call to enhance security and interventions in place to shield Filipino learners from school-based violence, proposals to implement bans on cellphone usage and/or social media platforms for the youth have become the talk of the town recently.
For instance, a local chief executive in Dumanjug, Cebu, suggested a policy that calls for a total cellphone ban in schools, with the confiscated devices to be returned to their respective owners at the end of the school year.
In a briefing on Monday, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro welcomed the proposal of Dumanjug Mayor Gungun Gica, but questioned the severity of the penalties for noncompliance.
Usec. Castro told the media, “Maganda naman po iyong kaniyang layunin para po mas magkaroon ng concentration ang mga bata sa kanilang pag-aaral. Hindi ko lang po masasabi kung ang penalty ay nararapat, kung ito ba ay reasonable dahil ang makakapagpa-implement naman po nito ay ang mga eskuwelahan, ang mga namumuno sa mga eskuwelahan.”
She moreover stressed that the Malacañang is coordinating these proposed policies with the Department of Education (DepEd), which earlier ordered the enforcement of tighter security measures in schools.
This, on the heels of the Tacloban school shooting incident, which killed 3 students and injured 20 others. As of press time, the minor perpetrators are undergoing legal processes under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said that it is also reviewing proposals to amend the gun law to address such incidents of violence involving Filipino youth that are taking place in schools, balancing the need for prompt law enforcement while ensuring that schools remain as safe spaces for children. (with report from Clay Pardilla | PTV News)
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