DepEd wants to probe 'true crime community' role in Banga National High School shooting

Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google.

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Saturday said that it would seek the help of other agencies to investigate the “true crime community” aspect following reports that the Banga National High School shooter was involved in it.

DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara said in an ambush interview in South Cotabato that the agency will seek the help of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to probe the matter.

“'Yon talaga gusto nating imbestigahin dahil hindi natin kabisado 'yan. Hihingi tayo ng tulong sa DICT, DILG, at siguro talagang dapat imbestigahan nang maigi itong mga... dahil mukhang naimpluwensiyahan siya,” Angara said.

(That is what we want to investigate because we are not familiar with that yet. We will ask for help from the DICT, DILG and that is really what we want to investigate well… because it seemed like he was influenced.)

Angara said that he read something that the suspect wrote down. It indicated that the shooter did not appear to want to push through with the act.

“Alam niya ang mali ang gagawin niya pero ginagawa pa rin niya dahil parang may nagkumbinsi sa kanya na gawin,” Angara said. (He knew that what he was going to do was wrong but it seemed like someone convinced him to do it.)

Three students died during the shooting incident at Banga National High School in Banga, South Cotabato on Friday afternoon. Among the fatalities was the shooter. Eight others were injured.

The student shooter was reportedly part of a “true crimes community" which may have led him to copy other shooting incidents, according to Banga Mayor Albert Palencia on Friday.

DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Saturday said the shooter was into the deep dark web which influenced him.

Enhanced safety measures

The incident in Banga, South Cotabato is the third school shooting in 2026 that led to multiple deaths. The Tacloban shooting saw the deaths of three students, while the Zamboanga shooting led to the deaths of two students, including the shooter.

Angara said that the agency planned to roll out enhanced safety measures following these school shootings—all of which happened in the span of four months.

“'Yong security measures, talaga kailangang paigtingin dahil hindi talaga kami handa sa mga ganitong shootings eh. Na-concentrate tayo sa academic performance ng mga bata,” Angara said.

(The security measures, we really need to strengthen those because we are not ready for these types of shootings. We concentrated on the academic performance of children.)

The DepEd secretary said that they have already purchased more metal detectors, but did not specify when they would be distributed.

He also clarified that while there may be police presence outside of schools, officers are usually now allowed inside of premises because they are zones of peace.

Moreover, Angara said that the DepEd is looking into how to improve mental health among the students, adding that the agency is hiring more school counselor associates. —KG, GMA News