ILOILO — Police are investigating whether false reports of an impending shooting, death threat and stabbing at Tigbauan National High School were part of a disturbing copycat trend of school threats spreading across the country, even as authorities found no evidence of an actual security threat at the campus.
Police Captain Alfred Mansoy, officer-in-charge of the Tigbauan Municipal Police Station (MPS), said authorities are now tracing who originated and circulated the alarming claims that caused concern among students, parents and school personnel.
Mansoy said similar threats have surfaced in schools elsewhere in the Philippines and raised the possibility that those behind the Tigbauan scare may have merely followed the trend after a recent school shooting in Zamboanga.
“Naga-trending sa kabataan kag eskwelahan nga may mga threat. Kag kon sa akon lang, nakisabay sila sa natabo sa Zamboanga. Ang akon message sa aton parents: under control naton ang sitwasyon,” he stressed.
The alarm intensified after information circulated that face-to-face classes at Tigbauan National High School had supposedly been suspended because of a death threat and an impending shooting.
Police verification, however, showed that the class suspension was unrelated to any security threat.
Teachers had a scheduled faculty meeting, prompting classes to temporarily shift to Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM).
Police also received information from a teacher about circulating messages claiming that a shooting would take place at the school.
But Mansoy said investigators had neither screenshots nor other evidence establishing that an actual threat had been made.
“Teacher una nga nag-report sa aton nga may nag-circulate kuno nga threat diri sa eskwelahan, specifically death threat nga may matirohay kuno. Wala man. May convo lang gid nga ga-inform sa maestra may shooting. Wala man screenshot kag wala man basis. Amo to gani nga nakibot man ako. Ang suspension nag-timing lang,” he added.
Another rumor later surfaced claiming that a stabbing had occurred inside the school, prompting police to immediately verify the information.
Again, authorities found no evidence that such an incident had happened.
Police are now focusing their investigation on determining where the information originated and who was responsible for spreading it.
Mansoy warned that spreading fabricated threats should not be treated as harmless fun.
Tigbauan MPS subsequently issued an official statement urging students and the public to stop circulating unverified information and instead rely on announcements from authorities and school officials.
The public was advised to refrain from sharing unverified information on social media and to rely only on official announcements from authorized agencies and school authorities.
But despite finding no substantiated threat, police are not taking chances.
Mansoy said police visibility around schools is being intensified.
“We take this situation very seriously and are conducting a comprehensive investigation to prevent similar occurrences in the future,” he stressed./PN