ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 28 June 2026) — On Monday morning, June 22, 2026, the morning air at San Jose National High School in Tacloban was not filled with the familiar cadence of school bells or the chatter of students preparing for their exams. Instead, it was shattered by the cold, metallic echo of gunfire. Two students, whose hands should have held pens and textbooks, held instruments of destruction. By the time the smoke cleared, three young lives were extinguished —children who walked through those gates expecting to learn, laugh, and grow, not to die.
As the nation grapples with the horror of this tragedy, we must resist the urge to label this a mere localized crime. To do so would be a profound betrayal of the victims. This atrocity is not an anomaly; it is a symptom of a systemic, institutional failure that has been festering for years.
There is an old, haunting parable about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it, and Anybody could have done it—but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, and Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. In the end, Everybody blamed Somebody, even though Nobody had asked Anybody.
The tragedy of San Jose National High School is that the “job” mentioned in the parable — the task of building a society where every child feels fundamentally safe — has been left undone. We have spent decades debating the optics of policy while the foundation of our youth’s environment has crumbled beneath them.
Currently, our legislature remains fixated on reactive, punitive measures. We see a government quick to debate lowering the age of criminal responsibility, seeking to punish the symptoms of delinquency while ignoring the environmental rot that fosters it. They debate these policies while our teachers — the true, unsupported first line of defense — struggle to manage overcrowded, underfunded, and crumbling classrooms. How can we expect a child to respect the sanctity of life when they are educated in a system that clearly does not respect their basic right to a safe, dignified, and well-resourced learning environment?
Violence does not occur in a vacuum. It is a predictable harvest sown in the fields of our collective inaction. When a community is underserved, when a school is neglected, and when mental health support is treated as a luxury rather than a necessity, violence becomes an inevitable consequence.
It is time to be clear: State negligence is not a passive act — It is a choice. Every year that we prioritize political posturing over the radical improvement of our public school infrastructure, we are making a choice. Every time we ignore the plea for better student-to-counselor ratios, we are making a choice. We are choosing to leave our children vulnerable to the very shadows we pretend to be fighting.
The children lost in Tacloban are not just statistics in a report; they are the ghosts of our systemic failure. If we truly wish to honor their memory, we must evolve. We must stop waiting for “Somebody” to step up. We must stop blaming “Everybody” for a lack of progress. The peace we seek for our schoolyards will not be found in the barrel of a gun or the harshness of a courtroom. It will be found in the slow, difficult, and expensive work of investing in the well-being of the next generation.
If we continue to offer nothing but prayers and policy theater, we are merely waiting for the next echo of gunfire to shatter the silence of another morning. It is time for the cycle of deflection to end. It is time for the job to be done.
[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Maudi Maadil (a.k.a Algazelus) is a dedicated advocate for human rights and a humanitarian with over 14 years of experience working on diverse projects and programs focused on peace, security, and stability in Mindanao. He established ProVolve Skills Bridge Inc., and is an alumnus of the 2024 Western Union Foundation Fellowship, supported by the Watson Institute, as well as the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Email address: algazelusthesis@gmail.com]
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