The NDFP Special Office for the Protection of Children (SOPC) expresses its deepest condolences to the families, relatives, classmates, teachers, and communities affected by the tragic school shooting in Tacloban City last June 22.

In the semicolonial and semifeudal conditions that persist in Philippine society today, and especially under the Marcos Jr. administration which continues the policies of repression, militarization, and anti-people governance, a culture of violence and impunity has become normalized. Every single day, children witness and experience the effects of poverty, state violence, corruption, social inequality, criminality, domestic abuse, and the absence of meaningful opportunities for their development. Such conditions create an environment where violence becomes reproduced and internalized.

As investigations into the circumstances surrounding the shooting continue, public discussion should not be reduced to the mere actions of individual children. Rather, attention must be directed toward the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions that reproduce violent behavior among the youth.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines has consistently upheld the principle that the well-being of children is inseparable from the struggle to transform the social conditions that deprive them of their rights.

The NDFP’s program for a liberated Philippines envisions a society where every child enjoys access to adequate nutrition, quality education, health care, housing, recreation, and a safe environment conducive to their full physical, intellectual, emotional, cultural, and moral development. It recognizes that genuine protection of children requires the elimination of the root causes of poverty, exploitation, discrimination, and violence.

In areas where revolutionary organs of political power and people’s organizations have developed, efforts are made to advance the welfare of children through literacy campaigns, community-based education, health programs, cultural activities, and collective mechanisms for child protection. These efforts seek to ensure that children are able to develop their talents, participate in social life, and grow into socially conscious and responsible members of the community.

Fundamental to the NDFP’s perspective is the recognition that children flourish when their families and communities are empowered. Landlessness, unemployment, low wages, forced migration, and the lack of social services undermine children’s welfare. Thus, genuine child protection cannot be separated from the struggle for land reform, national industrialization, economic sovereignty, and democratic rights.

The school shooting in Tacloban merely exposes the violent and decadent character of Philippine society that shape the lives of Filipino children. It should compel everyone to ask why so many young people are caught up and grow up in poverty, social neglect, and various forms of violence.

There should be no room in public discourse to use this tragedy as pretext to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Such proposals do not address the roots of violence and merely shift blame onto children themselves. The central issue is not how to punish children more severely, but how to dismantle the culture of impunity and violence perpetuated by the ruling system.

As we mourn with the victims and their families, the NDFP and the entire revolutionary movement reaffirm our commitment to advancing the rights and welfare of Filipino children. A truly child-friendly society is one where every child is guaranteed the conditions necessary for their full development and participation in social life. Such a society can only be achieved through the eradication of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism which are the fundamental sources of exploitation, oppression, and violence that continue to afflict Filipino children and their families. Only in such a society can Filipino children genuinely enjoy peace, dignity, security, and the opportunity to realize their fullest potential.

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