ILOILO City – Alarmed by a surge in youth-related violence and the shortage of mental health professionals in public secondary schools, the Iloilo City Council has passed a resolution urging the Department of Education (DepEd) to immediately deploy more licensed guidance counselors to local campuses.
The measure cites low counselor-to-student ratios that leave thousands without adequate psychosocial support.
Iloilo National High School, for example, has only four guidance counselors for 6,214 students, while Iloilo City National High School and Ramon Avanceña National High School each have one counselor for more than 3,000 students.
Mandurriao National High School, with over 3,100 students, has no registered counselor at all.
The resolution links this shortage to a string of violent incidents involving minors, including the Aug. 1 stabbing at Jaro Plaza, a gang clash at the Gaisano ICC Grounds on Aug. 3 involving 19 minors, and another youth disturbance on Aug. 10.
Councilor Sedfrey Cabaluna, who authored the measure, stressed that licensed guidance counselors are not merely academic advisers but trained professionals in behavioral management, crisis intervention, and preventive mental health care.
“The absence of adequate guidance services means many of our students face problems alone, making them more vulnerable to gang recruitment, peer pressure, and self-harm,” he said.
Cabaluna lamented that this city’s efforts to combat youth violence are stuck in a cycle of knee-jerk reactions that fade once public attention wanes, citing failures in sustaining interventions and closing gaps in community protection systems.
The chair of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Committee on Public Safety and Order, Cabaluna said he had sounded the alarm as early as February 2024 over “pang-tripping” and “pang–sasko” incidents where students were attacked on their way home and rival groups clashed near schools.
“I was already calling the attention of the public, specifically the city government and concerned agencies, to address the situation,” he said. “We conducted committee hearings to trace the roots of these incidents and pushed for interventions from the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), schools, barangays, and most importantly, families.”
But Cabaluna underscored that the burden cannot rest on City Hall alone.
“This should be a shared responsibility — from the family to the school, the community, the church, and the government. We must be there consistently, guiding them every step of the way,” he said./PN