FIVE guidance counselors will conduct a stress debriefing for 70 Grade 2 pupils in the Labangon Bliss Elementary School who saw an ex-policeman get shot in their school last Thursday.
Labangon Barangay Captain Vic Buendia, for his part, said that the barangay will send additional tanods to secure the school, where the shooting took place during an event attended by parents and teachers.
Parents were worried about their children’s safety after two men attacked former police officer Armando Lozano during the induction ceremony on the school’s stage last Thursday afternoon.
Lozano survived the attack after he managed to hide inside the principal’s office.
According to the school principal, Ricardo Aman, he encouraged the parents to continue letting their children go to school despite what happened.
“We saw the need for what’s called psychological first aid because our children were traumatized by what happened. We didn’t expect that something like that would happen inside the school because it is a place of peace and safety,” Aman said.
Aman said that after Lozano hid inside one of the classrooms, one gunman apparently thought that the ex-policeman was inside the Grade 2 classroom.
Gunman in classroom
“Nisud tong naka-bonnet niya nakapawara-wara pas iyang armas atubangan sa mga bata (The man whose face was covered got in and brandished his gun in front of the children),” the principal said.
Neither man was identified a day after the attack, and the police were still investigating what could have motivated them.
Twenty years ago, Lozano was on trial for the November 1997 murder of Alden Abiabi, an anti-drug crusader, but was eventually acquitted.
Following Thursday’s attack, the Punta Prinsesa Police headed by Chief Insp. Clark Arriola of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) assured that they will also assign police officers to the area.
In an interview yesterday, Barangay Captain Buendia said that before the incident, their barangay tanods usually checked all schools every morning and after the classes were dismissed in the afternoon.
It’s an added precaution, although security guards watch over the schools.
“I can add the deployment of tanods. But I cannot support them 100 percent that our place is safe even though there are tanods because our tanods don’t have firearms. At this time, even barangay officials are targets of the killings. I don’t know if we can feel that we’re safe again,” Buendia said.
With around 33,000 residents, the barangay has 20 tanods who take turns in securing the entire village.
Buendia said although the children were not the gunmen’s target, he is worried about the trauma that the incident caused.
To make sure their children are safe, Buendia advised parents to escort their children to school and pick them up at the end of the school day. (RVC, JOB)