Only 1 Tacloban shooting victim in ICU, rest of victims recovering — DepEd

An official of the Department of Education on Sunday said only one victim of the deadly shooting inside the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City remains in the intensive care unit (ICU) while the rest of the cases are now stable.

This was disclosed by Education Undersecretary Malcolm Garma during an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

According to Garma there were a total of 23 total casualties during the June 22 incident: three fatalities, 15 wounded and five were indirectly-related injuries.

He said the majority are in the process of recovery and some have been discharged from the hospital.

“Ang priority ng DepEd is masiguro ang mga nasugatan ay mabigyan ng sapat na medikal na atensyon at lunas. Sa awa ng Diyos marami po sa nasugatan ay stable na po and going to recovery na. In fact may mga na-discharge na po,” Garma said.

(The priority of DepEd is to ensure that those who were hurt are given the medical attention and healing they need. With God’s help many of those hurt are now stable and on the road to recovery. In fact some have been discharged.)

Two students were previously recorded being treated in the ICU.

Aside from those who were physically hurt, the department is also helping those who suffered mental or emotional trauma for those who are suffering fear and anxiety after witnessing or experiencing the results of the shooting.

“Second, ang priority natin ay mabigyan ng psychosocial support or psychosocial first aid yung mga biktima. This includes schoolmates who were not physically hurt during the shooting as well as school staff, the parents of the students and the entire community that the school serves,” the official said.

Providing psychosocial support with the DepEd are its partner organizations, the Department of Health (DOH), Dept. of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as well as academic institutions the University of the Philippines Tacloban College and non-government organizations.

Keeping public schools safe

Garma said another priority is the strengthening of security measures inside public schools.

“In fact, the policy was issued in the early part of this year. Hindi po ito dahil sa Tacloban lang… May nangyari ding shooting incident last year sa Nueva Ecija so after that nag-intensify na po kami ng, nag-adjust na ng security measures ang mga schools,” he said.

(This was not just because of what happened in Tacloban… there was also a shooting incident in Nueva Ecija so after that we already intensified and adjusted our security efforts in our schools.)

The DepEd official said they will look into three measures: assigning guards to man school gates, the use of metal detectors and the installation of CCTV cameras.

“Kaya lang, siyempre ang realidad hindi pare-pareho ang kakayanan ng mga eskuwelahan natin. Napakarami kasi, so even if we would like all of our schools na magkaroon nito, hindi rin natin ma-monitor so ang ginawa po ni (Education Secretary Sonny Angara) ngayon is kunin muna ang datos, ilan talaga ang meron o wala. And of course, we would like to see saan talaga nangyayari ang mga ganito para sa ganoon maging strategic tayo. Kulang man lang ang mga resources sa kasalukuyan… sino ang uunahin na mabibigyan ng suporta,” Garma explained.

(However, the reality is our schools all have different capabilities. We have so many, so even if we would like all of our schools to have these, we won’t be able to monitor all of them, so as of now, Sec. Angara has requested the data, how many of our schools have these? How many don’t? And where do these incidents happen so we could adopt a strategic approach… Our limited resources will go to where these are needed most.)

Garma said discussions are continuing with law enforcement agencies, specifically the Philippine National Police, on efforts to improve security outside the schools. —RF, GMA News