Two boys arrested after deadly school shooting in the Philippines

School shootings are rare in the Philippines, which made the gunfire inside San Jose National High School in Tacloban City a jolting warning sign for families, teachers and officials. By the time police secured the campus in Barangay San Jose, three students were dead and seven people had been wounded in an attack that unfolded around 9 a.m. on June 22.

Authorities said two minor suspects, both students at the same school and reported to be 14 and 15 years old, were taken into custody. Police said one boy was arrested immediately and the second was caught after a manhunt. Because both are minors, they were being questioned in the presence of their parents and turned over to the City Social Welfare and Development Office under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.

Police in Eastern Visayas said the boys may have been bullied, and one account said the alleged harassment had gone on since Grade 7. Investigators were also looking at a possible personal grudge. That makes the case more than a criminal probe: it is now a test of how school conflict, child protection and campus security failed to stop violence before it reached a classroom.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed sympathy for the victims and ordered a thorough investigation. The Department of Education condemned the attack, placed its response operations on high alert and moved to secure the campus while helping those affected. Local reporting said classes at nearby San Jose Central School and Manlurip Elementary School were suspended as crisis teams and psychosocial support were deployed for students, teachers and families.

The toll has sharpened fears about school safety in a country where mass gun violence in schools remains uncommon. It also raises hard questions that cannot be avoided now: how two minors got hold of a weapon, how a dispute among students escalated to lethal force in the middle of the school day, and whether the response from police and education officials can keep panic from spreading beyond Tacloban City.