Ex-CICC chief urges early-intervention framework for bullying, student threats amid school violence

• IN PHOTO: Former Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) Executive Director and current Scam Watch Pilipinas Advisor for Cybercrime Investigation Alexander Ramos

Former Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) Executive Director Alexander Ramos said prevention must begin much earlier as schools confront a series of violent incidents involving students across the country.

Ramos, who also serves as Scam Watch Pilipinas Advisor for Cybercrime Investigation, said schools need clearer tools to recognize varying degrees of bullying, threats and behavioral changes before these escalate into more serious situations.

“We should not wait until bullying becomes violence before we recognize that there is a problem. Teach our teachers how to identify the levels, give them a clear escalation process and intervene while there is still an opportunity to prevent something worse from happening,” Ramos said.

His call follows the August 18 shooting at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School campus in Zamboanga City, where a Grade 9 student shot and killed another student before taking his own life. Two other people were injured in the attack, which authorities continue to investigate.

Ramos stressed that the incident should not be automatically attributed to bullying while investigators are still determining the circumstances and motive. He said, however, that the continuing cases of violence in schools underscore the need for an early-intervention framework that can help teachers identify bullying, threats, intimidation and other warning signs.

“We have to create content that identifies the varying degrees of bullying. Bullying does not suddenly become serious overnight. There are levels, there are warning signs, and there are behaviors that can escalate. Teachers need to know how to identify these early,” Ramos said.

He said bullying is often viewed too narrowly, with attention focused mainly on obvious physical aggression. Schools, he said, should also be able to recognize repeated humiliation, exclusion, intimidation, cyberbullying, threats and significant behavioral changes among students.

“The problem is that bullying is often treated as either present or absent. Hindi ganoon kasimple. We have to understand the degree. Is it teasing? Is it repeated humiliation? Is it social exclusion? Is there intimidation? Are there threats already? Is the child showing signs of retaliation or extreme distress? Teachers should know the difference,” Ramos said.

He proposed developing a bullying and threat identification and escalation framework that gives teachers practical indicators and clear protocols for intervention instead of relying solely on students to formally report incidents.

The framework could distinguish ordinary disagreements from repeated bullying, identify patterns of intimidation and threatening behavior, and flag higher-risk situations involving threats of serious harm, references to weapons, self-harm, violent retaliation or other significant behavioral changes.

“Teachers are with these students every day. They may be the first people outside the family who can see that something is changing. But we cannot expect them to act on warning signs if we have not given them the tools to understand what those signs mean,” Ramos said.

He added that teachers should know when an issue can be handled at the classroom level, when guidance counselors and parents should become involved, and when a situation should immediately be elevated to school administrators or appropriate authorities.

For Ramos, physical security measures such as guards, bag inspections and restrictions on weapons address only part of the problem.

“We have to stop the weapon from entering the school, but we also have to ask what happened before someone decided to bring that weapon in the first place,” Ramos said.

The Zamboanga incident comes amid a series of violent incidents involving students reported since the opening of classes this year. In July, the Senate was told that at least 15 cases of school-related violence and threats had been reported over a three-week period beginning June 16, leaving at least three students dead and 32 others wounded.

Among the most serious was the June 22 shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, where two students aged 14 and 15 opened fire on their schoolmates, killing three and injuring at least 20. Police said the suspects claimed during initial questioning that they had experienced bullying, although authorities continued to investigate the circumstances and possible motives.

Just days earlier, seven Grade 5 pupils at Bethel Academy in General Trias, Cavite were injured after allegedly being attacked by a Grade 8 student carrying a kitchen knife. A separate stabbing was also reported at Cavite National High School, leaving a senior high school student wounded.

A Grade 8 student in Bacolod City was injured on June 29 after allegedly being stabbed by a Grade 7 student outside Sum-ag National High School.

Another case in Zamboanga City on July 1 directly raised the issue of bullying. A Grade 11 student at Cabaluay National High School stabbed and wounded two classmates whom he allegedly said had bullied him.

School violence continued into July. A 13-year-old student was stabbed and killed by a 14-year-old classmate inside Las Piñas National High School on July 31. Police said an argument involving P10 in unreturned change preceded the attack.

Ramos’ advocacy on child protection dates back to the 1990s. He had lectured in schools and communities on child protection issues and later on the growing victimization of children in online spaces.

While serving with the National Bureau of Investigation, Ramos and his wife also developed a cyber ethics program for children, envisioned as a model for helping schools and communities build awareness among young people about responsible online behavior, digital risks and personal safety.

He said the same preventive approach should now be strengthened as schools deal with bullying, online interactions, threats and other risks affecting children.

For Ramos, the objective is not to label every conflict as a precursor to violence, but to give adults around children the ability to recognize risk early enough to act.