DSWD to boost parenting lessons after Tacloban school shooting

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) wants to intensify and expand parenting lessons following the Tacloban City school shooting involving gunmen aged 14 and 15.

“As we say, the first teachers of our children are our parents. So we’re looking at strengthening our parenting effectiveness sessions,” DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said in an interview on state-run PTV-4 on Wednesday.

Dumlao said the DSWD is looking into the “preventive side” of the shooting that killed three teenage students and wounded at least 20 others inside the school premises in Brgy. San Jose last June 22.

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One of the gunmen, 14-year-old “alias Nash,” fired at least 33 gunshots and reloaded his firearm, according to the Philippine National Police.

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The older gunman, 15-year-old “alias Rod,” fired only once before being apprehended by police.

READ: 14-year-old gunman in Tacloban shooting fired at least 33 shots – PNP

The DSWD implements parenting initiatives under its Family Welfare Program, including those that promote early childhood development and family relationships.

Another program is the Magulang Para sa Pag-Unlad ng Bata (MaPangBata) Module, an initiative under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

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The module seeks to teach parents how to “provide emotional support, encourage learning, and nurture their children positively,” according to the DSWD.

Dumlao said the social welfare department aims to improve the module “because we really need to improve our family relationships, strengthen the proper ways we raise our children, and guide them.”

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‘It takes a village to raise a child’

Dumlao also emphasized the need to empower communities where kids grow, saying, “it always takes a village to raise a child.”

“We must all be helping and guiding the children for them to grow in the proper environment, and that they will be properly guided so that they could help in our nation building and they could help in ensuring that we all live in an orderly and peaceful society,” she added.

This comes as calls for lowering the age of criminal liability have mounted, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. open to the proposition.

READ: Palace: Marcos open to lowering age of criminal responsibility

However, there may have been “environmental factors” that led to the school shooting, a children’s rights group based at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman said.

“It is important to understand the conditions in their environment that may have influenced them in the tragedy, since they are also vulnerable,” UP Children’s Rights Advocates League (Cradle) said in a statement on Wednesday.

UP Cradle called for “proactive, firm, and effective” interventions for children in conflict with the law, saying children must receive adequate support to realize their potential.

“Because protecting the rights and welfare of children remains a collective responsibility of our society — in homes, in schools, and in the communities we belong to,” it said. —With a report from Andre Esguerra, intern

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