Public safety
Remulla Says 53 Planned School Shootings in South Cotabato Were Stopped After the Banga Attack
October 9, 2026 · Joshua S Bariñan
Nearly three weeks after a Grade 9 student opened fire at Banga National High School, the interior secretary disclosed for the first time that police had been tracking dozens of copycat threats across South Cotabato in the days that followed. He said the government kept the arrests quiet because the cases involved children in conflict with the law and the adults accused of grooming them.
The disclosure
Remulla spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the first Metro Manila School Safety and Security Summit, a two day event hosted by the National Capital Region Police Office in Quezon City. "That night, that week, there were 53 planned school shootings in South Cotabato. We stopped all of them," he said.
He said the 53 people taken into custody were adults who had posted threats against schools online or had been grooming minors toward violence. Some had posted photographs of themselves with guns on social media. Firearms were recovered in the operations. He described the group as not coordinated, "a very loose organization" rather than a network with a single leader.
The secretary explained the near month of silence. The cases were sensitive, he said, and involved children in conflict with the law. Those arrested are undergoing psychiatric counseling while the cases are prepared, according to RMN.
The groomer
Among those arrested, Remulla said, is the person accused of grooming the Banga shooter. Newsline reported on October 1 that investigators had identified an 18 year old man from South Cotabato as the groomer and were pursuing him at that point. Police have not released his name or said how he came into contact with the student.
The shooter, a 14 year old Grade 9 student whom this site does not name, shot two schoolmates and then himself on September 18 using his father's gun. The father works at the Department of Education regional office for Soccsksargen and kept the weapon in a home safe. Three people died and eight were wounded, according to most reports from the scene.
Investigators have said the boy had been active on dark web forums. His parents had sought mental health help for him beginning in April. Those details, and the involvement of an adult who allegedly encouraged him, are what shifted the case from a single school tragedy to the wider operation Remulla described.
What the Department of the Interior is ordering
Remulla listed three measures. Barangay watchmen are to be posted at every public school. One police officer is to stand outside each school during class hours. The department will also review the law on the safekeeping of licensed firearms at home, the gap that allowed the Banga shooter to take his father's gun.
"This takes precedence because the impact of today will reverberate for the next 20 years," he said of the school security push.
In South Cotabato itself, provincial and municipal governments tightened entry checks and increased police visibility at schools in the days after the shooting. Maharlika TV reported that security at schools across the province remains elevated following the disclosure of the foiled plots.
What is not yet known
Remulla did not say how many of the 53 planned attacks involved distinct schools, how far along any of them were, or whether all 53 arrests correspond to the 53 plots. Neither the Philippine National Police nor the Police Regional Office 12 has released a case by case breakdown.
The charges filed have not been detailed in public. Online threats against schools can be prosecuted under the Cybercrime Prevention Act and the Revised Penal Code provisions on grave threats, while grooming of minors falls under the Anti Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children law and related statutes, depending on what investigators find.
The Philippine News Agency carried the secretary's remarks on its X account on October 8. Reporters at the summit were told that further details would come from the PNP once the cases are filed.
Why it matters for Mindanao schools
The Banga shooting was the first of its kind at a Philippine public school, and the scale of what followed, if the secretary's figures hold, means the threat spread across a province within days. The policy answers so far are physical: watchmen, a patrol officer, a gun storage review.
The grooming finding points elsewhere. An adult encouraging a child toward violence online is a problem that gates and guards do not reach, and it is the part of the case that schools, parents and the Department of Education in Soccsksargen have the least information about.
Parents and school heads in South Cotabato can report threats to the nearest police station or to the PNP Anti Cybercrime Group. The provincial government has not announced a dedicated hotline for school threats.
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