TAGUIG CITY, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is advocating for increased vigilance over digital spaces, urging authorities, educators, and parents to safeguard youth from online radicalization and extreme content following a wave of violent incidents in schools.
Speaking during a media briefing at the Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla stressed that physical interventions alone are insufficient to counter campus threats.
“We look at this issue not only from a physical security perspective but also our digital environment where our children are exposed,” Padilla stated.
Law enforcement agencies are currently assessing the impact of violent digital content on a sequence of lethal school attacks recorded since June. The most recent incident occurred on September 18 at Banga National High School in South Cotabato, where three people died—including the 16-year-old shooter—and eight others suffered injuries.
Reports indicated the alleged perpetrator was heavily active on the deep dark web.
Prior to the Banga incident, two other violent events shook academic campuses:
- June 22 (San Jose National High School, Tacloban City): Three students lost their lives and several were wounded. Investigators revealed two underage suspects spent over a month coordinating through messaging channels that circulated extremist materials and glorified mass shooters.
- August 18 (Ateneo de Zamboanga University): A Grade 9 student fatally shot a Grade 10 student before taking his own life. The attack left two others injured and was broadcast live on social media platforms.
In light of these events, Col. Padilla urged a broader interpretation of digital defense.
“From the AFP perspective, cybersecurity is simply not about protecting the network or data. It is also about protecting the people and our information environment,” she noted.
Padilla highlighted that the military has mobilized specialized arms, such as the AFP Cyber Command and Civil Military Operations Command, while tracking concerns related to nihilistic violent extremism (NVE).
“It is not only violent extremism but also the issues we confront today. There are so many speculations coming out, so we really need our people to be more discerning,” she added.
While the military stands ready to handle matters reaching the threshold of national security, Padilla reiterated that safeguarding students requires a collaborative strategy across sectors.
“Our teachers are there to mold our students, and of course we need to impose critical thinking on our students so that they can identify if they are already being targeted by these kinds of violent extremism in the digital environment,” Padilla said.
“Parents are also a big aspect of this, to really ask their children what they are engaging in, such as who they are talking to, all those things,” she added.
“For the side of the AFP, any national security concern, that’s where we step in and we coordinate with other government agencies that are in charge of this,” she concluded.