TWO TEACHERS. Two separate attacks. One in Aklan, the other in Davao de Oro. The Philippine National Police has vowed justice. This must be fulfilled.
But justice after an attack is not enough. The more urgent question is this: Who will protect teachers before the next attack happens?
For generations, we have considered teachers our second parents. Today, some are insulted online, threatened in school, and, in the worst cases, physically attacked. Somewhere along the way, respect gave way to anger.
The roots of this violence do not begin inside the classroom. They begin inside the home.
Children first learn respect from their parents. When adults openly insult teachers, reject discipline, or rush to defend their children regardless of the facts, they teach a dangerous lesson that authority deserves resistance, not respect. Schools cannot correct in six hours what families fail to teach in sixteen.
Social media has made matters worse. A teacher’s reprimand is recorded on a mobile phone. A thirty-second video goes viral. Context disappears. Outrage spreads faster than the truth. Teachers become public enemies before they are even heard.
Schools, too, must look inward. Teachers should not face angry parents or violent students alone. Every school needs clear protocols for handling threats, stronger guidance and counselling programs, and training in conflict de-escalation. Discipline must be firm, fair, and consistently applied.
The government cannot simply issue statements after every tragedy. The Department of Education should strengthen school safety measures, expand mental health services, and ensure that every school has functioning child protection and crisis response systems. Congress should pass a Teacher Protection Act that provides stronger legal protection, stiffer penalties for assaults against education workers, and dedicated funding for campus security and psychological support.
But no law can replace what is missing at home.
Every attack on a teacher is an attack on education itself.
Every slap, punch, threat, or insult directed at a teacher sends a message to every child watching: that those who educate us are no longer worthy of respect.
Teachers shape the minds that will someday lead our towns, our province, and our nation.
If those entrusted to educate our children cannot even feel safe inside or outside the school, then something is deeply broken.
If we as a nation cannot protect our teachers, how do we expect them to shape responsible citizens?
Today, the question is no longer whether teachers deserve our gratitude.
The question is whether we still value them enough to protect them.
