DepEd has only 2,200 security guards for 48,000 public schools
MANILA, Philippines (Updated June 30, 2026; 4:58 p.m.) — There are roughly 2,200 permanent security guard positions across the Department of Education's 48,000 public schools, according to the Department of Education.
That is equivalent to about one security guard for every 20 schools.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara initially said Monday that there were only about 200 positions for security posts. Specifically, Angara said: "Before I was appointed, they were removed, there was a nationalization, so the security guards' positions were removed. Only about 200 were left. If we look, we have 48,000 schools."
The DepEd chief gave this number in response to a question about funding amid the department's recent run-ins with campus violence. Angara said he has asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to fund more plantilla items for security posts in schools.
On Tuesday, however, DepEd sent Philstar.com a statement clarifying that the number of permanent security guard positions is 2,494, according to its latest data as of April 24.
"Of these plantilla items, 2,242 positions are currently filled, while 252 positions remain vacant," DepEd said.
Requesting more funding
"We need funding or positions for security guards. That's the most important thing," Angara told reporters in mixed English and Filipino during an ambush interview at Alfonso Castañeda National High School in Nueva Vizcaya. "Our plantilla items for security guards are severely lacking."
Angara blamed the shortfall to a prior "nationalization" of government positions before his appointment as DepEd chief in mid-2024 that removed several of DepEd's security guard items.
The DepEd secretary pointed out that there are even campuses that need more than one guard.
Monday saw the DepEd rattled by even more threats of campus violence.
In Escalante City, Negros Occidental, police are investigating a student accused of posting an online plan to copy the Tacloban shooting, prompting alarmed parents to pull their children out of Escalante City National High School.
Hours earlier, Batangas City Integrated High School suspended classes until further notice over a "possible threat of a school shooting."
Both followed the June 22 attack at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, where two students aged 14 and 15 fired at least 34 rounds inside their campus, killing three classmates and wounding 20.
Police later said the pair planned the attack for weeks. Their initial investigation also showed the pair had managed to sneak in their firearms despite the posting of two security guards on campus.
Three days later, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said it had foiled a separate plot by a 14-year-old to mount a mass-casualty attack at Tolosa National High School, also in Leyte.
It has long been the practice for several public schools to outsource security personnel from third-party private agencies, often using their maintenance and other operating expenses.
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