The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have partnered to strengthen school security by deploying barangay tanods on school premises and integrating the education agency into the country’s unified 911 emergency response system amid concerns over school shootings and other security threats.
The partnership is covered by a joint memorandum circular (JMC) signed on Oct. 14, during a joint school safety audit and drill at Bangkal High School in Makati City led by Education Secretary Sonny Angara and Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
Under the agreement, schools may coordinate with their respective barangays to request the deployment of barangay tanods, or community peacekeepers, to help maintain peace and order within school perimeters.
DepEd clarified that the deployment of barangay tanods is intended to provide additional protection for students and support existing school safety measures.
However, the agency stressed that barangay tanods “will not replace school authorities or law enforcement,” adding that orientations will be conducted to ensure their duties are aligned with child protection, learner rights and school safety policies.
Meanwhile, technology firm NGA Philippines will facilitate emergency response in schools by integrating DepEd into the DILG’s unified 911 system.
Launched by the DILG in September 2025, the unified emergency hotline consolidated more than 30 local emergency numbers into a single service to streamline access to emergency assistance.
NGA Philippines country head Robert Llaguno said the system would use a parallel workflow, allowing emergency reports to be transmitted simultaneously to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and DepEd for coordinated action.
“As emergencies happen, the report is sent simultaneously to both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the DepEd so they can respond jointly and make faster decisions about the call,” NGA Philippines said in a separate press release.
The company added that incidents would also be processed and validated by DepEd’s central, regional and schools’ division offices, potentially reducing processing time from weeks to just one day.
“The incident also gets processed and validated by the Department of Education’s central, regional and schools’ division offices, so report processing that normally takes weeks to complete can be finished in a day. Information storage is centralized,” NGA Philippines also said.