School Shooting at Philippine High School — Suspects Claimed They Were Bullied

On the morning of June 22, 2026, a school day turned deadly in the Philippines. At approximately 9:20 a.m. local time, a shooting occurred at San Jose National High School in Tacloban, a city in the central Philippines. Two students armed with handguns opened fire, killing three fellow students and wounding another seven.

Here's how it unfolded: The suspects barged into two rooms — after the shooting in the first classroom, the students scattered, and the suspects apparently ran after some victims into a second room. Police recovered at least 40 shell casings at the scene. In a video posted online, students hiding under desks in a locked classroom could be heard screaming and weeping as gunshots rang out outside — some called their mothers. One suspect was arrested inside the school; the second fled and hid in a nearby house before being caught.

The two suspects are teenagers — aged 14 and 15. Their motive, at least according to them: they said they'd been bullied. The suspects, who were close friends, told investigators in initial questioning that they had been bullied at school. Investigators are now validating claims that one of the suspects had allegedly been bullied since Grade 7. But it's not confirmed — police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. ordered a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident, including reports that one of the suspects may have been subjected to prolonged bullying.

Authorities recovered a Glock pistol and a .38-caliber revolver allegedly used in the attack and are investigating how the minors obtained the firearms and brought them onto campus. That's a big open question — and it speaks to a wider issue. Crimes involving firearms are prevalent in the Philippines, partly due to the proliferation of unlicensed guns, but school shootings are relatively rare.

Because the shooters are minors, what happens next legally is complicated. The 14-year-old would be exempt from criminal prosecution under a 2006 Philippine law, which sets the minimum age of 15 for a minor to be criminally liable — and even then, only if authorities determine the suspect clearly understood the crime and its consequences. Both suspects are to be turned over to government welfare officers after the investigation.

This incident has already rippled into Philippine politics. Senator Robin Padilla used the moment to reiterate his push to amend the Juvenile Justice Act to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility. In 2025, he filed a bill proposing that children ages 10 to 17 could face criminal charges for heinous crimes, including murder.

Why does this matter to you, even if you're not in the Philippines? Because the core elements here — teenagers with access to illegal guns, bullying as a reported trigger, the state's struggle to hold juvenile offenders accountable — are debates that resonate well beyond Southeast Asia. The incident has already sparked talks between the Philippine National Police and the Department of Education on beefing up school security protocols, complicated by existing rules that generally prohibit police from entering school premises without authorization from school officials. A country now has to reckon with how to protect students while also asking some hard questions about where these kids got the guns — and whether anyone missed warning signs along the way.