Fake Threats Disrupt Learning, Spread Fear

Posted on September 7, 2026 at 8:44 am

The Department of Education’s regional office in Eastern Visayas is pushing for stricter consequences against students who make fake threats of violence in schools.

Since the June 22 shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, several campuses across the region have received hoax alerts of bombings or shootings, each one disrupting classes, wasting emergency resources, and instilling fear among students, teachers and families.

The DepEd has proposed sending offenders to rehabilitation centers, arguing that restricted movement serves as a deterrent.

The proposal builds on DepEd Order No. 006, s. 2026, which already classifies bomb threats and bomb jokes as third-level offenses, alongside carrying firearms and drug possession. But enforcement for penalties, ranging from non-readmission to outright exclusion, has been inconsistent.

Fake alerts are not harmless pranks. DepEd-8 Director Salustiano Jimenez Jimenez said some students initiate these threats to avoid exams, a troubling sign that the gravity of such actions is not being taken seriously.

Schools in Tacloban, Eastern Samar, Leyte, and Northern Samar have all been affected, showing the problem is widespread and not isolated.

The DepEd central office has already laid the legal framework. Local implementation must follow through.

Eastern Visayas communities expect that threats, whether made in jest or not, are met with proportionate consequences.

Rehabilitation, when paired with counseling and education, could address both the act and its root causes.

Eastern Visayas has lived through the trauma of an actual school attack. Authorities cannot afford to treat its aftermath lightly. The safety of schoolchildren is not a matter for jokes or shortcuts. Stricter penalties must be consistently enforced.