With several schools in Pangasinan receiving malicious threats through social media, the provincial police said signboards enumerating the criminal liabilities of posting threats will be installed in schools across the province.
Police Colonel Dennis de Leon, officer-in-charge of the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office, said the sign boards will remind students that threatening to bomb or shoot schools carries legal consequences.
‘We are waiting for the design from the Police Regional Office I. Once we receive it, we will print and distribute the signages to all schools. If the budget permits, we will also install them in different barangays,’ de Leon told the Inquirer on Monday (July 27).
Bomb and shooting threats have been reported in schools in the municipalities of Sto. Tomas, Rosales, Manaoag, and San Jacinto, and in Dagupan City, prompting school and local government officials to suspend face-to-face classes or shift to online or modular learning.
The latest incident involved San Jacinto National High School, which received an online threat on Saturday (July 25).
San Jacinto police chief Major Hermie Raymundo said the school received what authorities considered a ‘scare threat.’ Despite this, police conducted seven security sweeps of the campus and found no weapons or suspicious materials that could be used to carry out criminal acts.
As a precaution, the school shifted to modular classes on Monday to ensure the safety of students and personnel.
Raymundo added that San Jacinto High School also prohibited delivery riders from entering the campus to prevent any potential security risks.
De Leon said the social media post narrates how a parent’s son supposedly overheard several students discussing plans to attack a teacher and a security guard using iron bars allegedly hidden inside the campus.
Police searched the school premises but found no evidence supporting the claim. Authorities recovered only a pellet gun and a knife from one corner of the San Jacinto campus, while several rooms were secured for further inspection.
The school likewise adopted a flexible learning program on Monday as a precautionary measure.
De Leon said the post was initially traced to a parent who quickly asserted that her social media account had been hacked.
He added that many individuals who post threats online use pseudonyms, making it difficult for investigators to identify the perpetrators even after tracing internet protocol (IP) addresses.
However, authorities have identified the suspect behind the threat in Rosales town-a 15-year-old student who allegedly posted a video in their class group chat threatening to kill fellow students. It also showed a baseball bat and a pellet gun.
The minor has been turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for intervention and other appropriate proceedings, de Leon said.
The pellet gun and baseball bat shown in the video are now in the custody of the Rosales Municipal Police Station as evidence.