Philippines school shooting leaves three dead, including gunman

A school shooting in the Philippines on Friday, 18 September 2026, left three people dead, including a 16-year-old suspected gunman who took his own life. The violence unfolded at Banga National High School in the town of Banga, located in South Cotabato province, turning a routine school day into a scene of chaos and panic.

According to provincial officials, the teenage attacker left his Grade 9 classroom and moved into an adjacent room, where he fired indiscriminately at students. Banga Mayor Albert Palencia stated that the suspect had earlier sat beside friends and remarked that he would execute a plan after lunch. His peers initially laughed off the warning because the teenager was known as a joker. Mayor Palencia also stated that the weapon used was a 9-mm pistol belonging to the suspect's father—an employee of the Department of Education—which the teenager accessed by breaking into a home vault.

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Accounts regarding the exact casualty figures and details varied among local authorities. South Cotabato provincial governor Reynaldo Tamoyo confirmed the gunman's death by suicide following the rampage. Disaster agency workers and municipal leaders indicated that the victims were students aged 14 to 17, with reports placing the number of wounded between eight and ten individuals, several of whom were rushed to hospitals in critical condition. South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamoyo said the two students killed were a boy and a girl, both 14. He said the gunman was the third person who died.

Footage circulating on social media showed injured students being carried out of classrooms, while police footage captured blood-covered floors as officers evacuated the building. Amid the confusion, a teacher was heard in a circulating video stating there were two shooters, while a student remarked that the individuals were outsiders to the school. Police and disaster management teams responded quickly to secure the campus.

The tragedy compounds an alarming trend in a nation where school shootings were historically rare. This represents a recent series of fatal campus gun incidents in the country, following earlier attacks in Zamboanga and Tacloban City. The sequence of violence comes shortly after the Department of Education orchestrated nationwide active-shooter emergency drills designed to train students and teachers in lockdown protocols across public institutions.

In the wake of the Banga shooting, Governor Tamoyo stressed that physical campus security and safety drills alone are insufficient without parental responsibility regarding firearm storage. South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamoyo urged parents to ensure guns were kept out of reach of minors. Governor Tamoyo added that authorities cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students and that communities need to work together.

The Department of Education issued a public statement expressing deep concern over the incident, stating that its immediate priority is the safety and well-being of learners, teachers, and school personnel. The agency urged the public to remain calm and refrain from circulating unverified information on social media while authorities continue their investigation. Following the shooting, disaster management authorities suspended classes at all levels across the municipality of Banga.

Broader context on the nation's security landscape reveals systemic challenges. While the Philippines maintains formal regulations requiring background checks and psychological evaluations for firearm acquisitions, illegal weapons remain widely accessible. As police investigators sweep the Banga campus and examine the circumstances surrounding the attack, community leaders face mounting pressure to address campus safety and minor access to firearms.