Bam seeks strict age limits on video games
Sen. Bam Aquino is pushing for a stricter enforcement of age restrictions on video games instead of proposals to ban them, saying these games have become a “convenient scapegoat” for campus violence such as the school shooting in Tacloban City on June 22.
Three students were killed and at least 15 others were wounded when two minors armed with a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver opened fire at San Jose National High School in the provincial capital of Leyte. This and other reported campus threats have prompted calls to ban video games featuring depictions of violence.
Malacañang said earlier President Marcos was open to proposals restricting or banning online games, while Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, in renewing his push for a social media ban for minors, also said his proposed ban includes access to these games.
‘Stricter rules’
Aquino, however, maintained that “video games have been existing for almost 50 years, but they’re always a convenient scapegoat every time violent incidents happen.”
“Numerous studies have found no correlation between video games and school shootings,” said the senator, who heads the Senate committees on basic education and on science and technology.
“There are many games that are not suitable for children. Maybe what we can clarify is if there [should be] something more strict,” Aquino said, suggesting that children’s access to mature video games, for instance, should be limited.
“Video game stores and online stores should also have stricter rules when it comes to children and their access to mature video games. But banning video games in general or as a whole—I don’t think that’s a good solution to our problems,” he said.
Developers, parents
Besides video game stores, game developers also have a responsibility to make their platforms safer, Aquino said.
“The developers have a responsibility to monitor, check, and ban [online] predators or those people there who have bad intentions,” he said.
He pointed out further that parents play a critical role as well in monitoring the video games played by their children.
Aquino, who has a pending measure aimed at helping ensure campus safety, also called for the installation of more security cameras, the deployment of additional barangay tanod, and regular parent-teacher meetings that would tackle school safety, among other concerns affecting students and school authorities alike.
Cell phone ban
In Cebu, Mayor Gungun Gica of Dumanjug town on Sunday imposed a total ban on mobile phones in schools, saying these “will be confiscated and only returned at the end of the school year.”
“If you do not wish to follow this policy, you have the option to transfer your children to another municipality,” Gica said in a Facebook post, adding that he wanted children in Dumanjug to read, study and interact with their classmates while on campus.
The mayor said he expected parents to talk to their children at home, follow up on what they learned in school, and encourage healthy relationships between siblings and parents.
Malacañang, in response, said it supports the ban on cell phones but questions the penalty for violating students.
“The objective is good because it aims to help students focus more on their studies,” Palace press officer Claire Castro said. “I just cannot say yet whether the penalty is appropriate, justified, or reasonable, because the ones who would actually implement this would be the schools and the administrators managing them.”
She noted that some schools, especially private schools, are already enforcing a prohibition on the use of cell phones during classes.
But there are no harsh penalties, with phones returned after classes, she said. Students can still use phones when necessary, especially in emergency situations, she added.
DepEd directive
Castro said the Department of Education (DepEd) would be open to further restricting the use of phones in the classroom.
Last March, DepEd enforced a strict ban on the use of cell phones and other portable devices by teaching and nonteaching personnel as well as students.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara issued DepEd Order No. 006, series of 2026, also known as the Guidelines on Ensuring a Safe and Motivating Learning Environment, which aims to eliminate digital distractions and uphold the integrity of the learning process.
Under the order, schools and community learning centers are required to ensure that the classroom remains a dedicated space for engagement, free from the interruptions of personal technology.
Exceptions are made for “meritorious” cases, especially for the use of phones in accessing educational platforms and digital tools for lessons, and in communication during medical emergencies, calamities and other crises. —WITH A REPORT FROM ANDRE ESGUERRA
