MISLEADING: No school shootings occurred under VP Sara Duterte’s DepEd term due to ‘intel funds’

Enzo Verzosa

A circulating social media post from former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque claimed that no school shootings happened during Vice President Sara Duterte’s term as Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary because “intelligence funds” were utilized for school security. 

CLAIM 

Following the recent shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University that left casualties, former Press Secretary Roque asserted that the intelligence funds directly accounted for the absence of school shootings during Duterte’s DepEd tenure.

RATING: MISLEADING

CONCLUSION

Violent campus incidents–including fatal shootings and stabbings–did occur during Duterte’s tenure as DepEd secretary. Moreover, available evidence during her impeachment proceedings does not establish that these funds were actually deployed for routine campus security and that they have prevented such incidents.

FACTS: 

• Cases of school violence did happen when Duterte was still DepEd secretary between June 2022 and July 2024. Notable incidents include the July 2022 shooting at Ateneo de Manila University, the January 2023 student stabbing inside Culiat High School in Quezon City, and the November 2023 shooting of a medical technology student inside Saint Paul University Philippines in Tuguegarao. 
• VP Duterte said in 2023 that the confidential funds will be used in support of counterinsurgency, anti-recruitment efforts, and national security. However,  a COA witness in her ongoing impeachment trial testified that the documents did not prove the funds produced the claimed counterinsurgency results.
• Nevertheless, under Joint Circular No. 2015-01, intelligence funds are reserved exclusively for intelligence operations of uniformed, military, and law enforcement agencies. Civilian agencies such as DepEd are eligible only for confidential funds, which is legally distinct from the term used in Roque’s post.

BOTTOMLINE

Even if surveillance actually occurred, saying that it resulted in “no school shootings” remains factually incorrect because violent attacks and shootings did occur during that exact period. Moreover, the absence of an incident cannot by itself demonstrate that intelligence funds prevented it.