Comelec: Teachers can now use poll service credits ‘at any time’

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has removed the expiration of poll service credits, allowing teachers to use them at any time after the conduct of elections.

Previous Comelec guidelines had specific periods when teachers and other government officials and employees for the availment of service credits earned in various elections or electoral exercise. @here

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2 MINDANAO COLLEGES PASADO SA CHED
@here

The City College of Davao (CCD) in Davao City, and the Colegio de Kapatagan (CdeK) in Lanao del Norte, have received institutional recognition from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), meaning they met what is required of city colleges in terms of mandate and purpose, governance, appropriateness of facilities, and sustainability of operations.

"The recognition supports President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s priority of expanding access to quality education, while ensuring that institutions serving Filipino learners meet appropriate standards. Strengthening local colleges helps bring higher education closer to communities and makes college more accessible to students," CHED said in a media bulletin.

CCD's undergraduate programs include Early Childhood Education, Entrepreneurship, and Technical-Vocational Teacher Education, with majors in Computer Programming and Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Technology.

CdeK offers BS Entrepreneurship, BS Criminology, and BS Social Work. 

GenSan schools resume face-to-face classes after powerful quake

Public schools in General Santos City resumed face-to-face classes on Thursday, August 13, over two months after the June 8 magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck the region.

School activities for Thursday and Friday, August 14, are focused on mental health and psychosocial support services, as well as orientations about school safety and disaster preparedness.

For now, the General Santos government only allowed the use of classrooms at the first and second floors of structurally sound multistorey school buildings for classes and other student activities.

Schools may still implement blended learning. @here

We visited General Santos City and Sarangani a week after the June 8 earthquake. I wrote that the disaster has set back classroom deliverables in Soccsksargen amid thousands of destroyed classrooms.

GenSan’s resumption of face-to-face classes this week also remind us that students there have been learning through modules, or maybe through online classes, for two months. Education officials may have to compute the actual number of class days lost and guide schools on their learning recovery efforts.

DepEd honors Tacloban school shooting victim, school staff as heroes

The Department of Education has conferred its Heroes Award to Grade 10 student Chris Lorenz Fabian, who was among the victims of the school shooting in Tacloban City, as well as the faculty and staff of San Jose National High School.

Fabian tried to stop the minors tagged in the school shooting from entering their classroom by blocking the door, before he was shot to death. His mother, Erbea, and his grandmother, Aleth, accepted the posthumous award.

The DepEd said the award was given to SJNHS faculty and staff "for their presence of mind, leadership, and coordinated emergency response in securing classrooms and shielding learners during the assault." | via @Jelo Mantaring - Rappler

Photos from DepEd

JUST IN. Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City confirms two deaths after a shooting occurred inside its Junior High School campus on Tuesday, August 18.

See the school's official statement below. This is a developing story. Stay tuned for more updates. | via @Jelo Mantaring - Rappler @here

Here is our news report and top story about the school shooting: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/ateneo-de-zamboanga-shooting-august-18-2026/

Bureau of Customs chief Ariel Nepomuceno confirms that the father of the shooter was employed by customs as the ESS District Commander of the Port of Zamboanga. @here "I had to relieve him immediately to have an impartial investigation," Nepomuceno tells Rappler. He also confirms that at least one of the guns used by the student had been issued by BOC, the short firearm.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says he has instructed law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the shooting that took place at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University junior high school building on Tuesday, August 18.

“We will work with our schools and communities to strengthen the safeguards that protect our students and ensure that they can pursue their education without fear,” Marcos says.

At least two students were killed in the shooting. Zamboanga Mayor Khymer Olaso says that shooter, a 7th grade student, was armed with a high-caliber weapon and a short arm.

The suspect, who was among the casualties, was said to have been a “very bright student.”

Read more: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/ateneo-de-zamboanga-shooting-august-18-2026/

This is so sad.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, in a press statement, said that it is not yet known whether the Ateneo de Zamboanga shooting has any connection to the Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE) networks uncovered after the Tacloban school shooting in June, or other similar online communities.

Hontiveros said this as the Senate's Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality is set to conduct on Thursday, August 20, its second hearing on NVE, and school and online safety. "Pangunahing layunin ng mga hearing na ito na matukoy kung ano ang kailangan nating baguhin sa paaralan at online environments ng kabataan upang kailanman ay hindi na ito maulit muli," the senator said. (The top priority of these hearings is to identify what we need to change in our schools, and online environments of the youth so these [violent incidents] will never happen again.)

Read more: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/ateneo-de-zamboanga-shooting-august-18-2026/

AdZU suspends classes after fatal school shooting

The Ateneo de Zamboanga University has suspended classes at all levels from August 18 to 19, in light of safety concerns following a fatal shooting incident that took the lives of two students. | via @John Sitchon - Rappler

Nepomuceno orders accounting, inventory of all BOC-issued firearms

Following the relief and preventive suspension of the Customs Police official who owns the firearms used by the Ateneo de Zamboanga school shooter, Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno has ordered deputy commissioners to immediately conduct a full investigation and gather all relevant documents, records, statements, and other evidence related to the matter. 

“In light of this incident, Commissioner Nepomuceno has ordered a comprehensive accounting and inventory of all issued firearms across the Bureau and a review of compliance with all BOC policies and issuances on gun safety, firearm custody, transport, carrying, storage, and safekeeping. Compliance reports from all concerned units have been required within twenty-four (24) hours,” the BOC’s statement read.

Read our story on the Customs-issued firearm and relief of the shooter’s father here: https://www.rappler.com/philippines/mindanao/ateneo-de-zamboanga-shooter-gun-customs-father/

Angara orders aid for AdZU students, teachers traumatized by shooting

Education Secretary Sonny Angara orders the regional office of the Department of Education in Zamboanga Peninsula to coordinate with Ateneo de Zamboanga University and concerned authorities to give psychological support for teachers, students, and families traumatized by the school shooting that claimed two lives on Tuesday, August 18.

He also calls on the public to refrain from circulating videos and photos to protect the privacy of the affected families. @here

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Zamboanga Mayor Khymer Olaso declares Wednesday, August 19, a "Day of Mourning" in the city, a day after deadly shootings at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University junior high school campus that killed two students. He also suspends classes at all levels in public and private schools in Zamboanga City.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara is in Zamboanga City and meets with Ateneo de Zamboanga University president Father Guillrey Anthony Andal and local officials for a situation briefing a day after the deadly campus shooting. Photos from the Department of Education

The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality joint with the Committees on Science and Technology and Basic Education begins their session on Thursday, August 20, where they're set to tackle the issue on the Ateneo de Zamboanga University shooting and findings from the previous school shooting in Tacloban City.

Screenshot from Senate of the Philippines' Livestream