Children are supposed to be learning in the classroom, not falling victims to stray bullets in deadly armed clashes among adults, Bangsamoro Member of Parliament Naguib Sinarimbo said on Wednesday.
“No child must ever bear the consequences of adults’ violence against each other. Schools are meant to be safe spaces for learning and growth, not scenes of fear and bloodshed,” Sinarimbo said as he condemned the death of a kindergarten pupil in Damabalas Elementary School who was killed in the crossfire during a gunbattle in Datu Piang, Maguindanao.
The boy was hit in the nape by a stray bullet while attending a class in a preschool classroom on Wednesday morning.
“This heartbreaking incident shows how armed conflict, no matter where it begins, does not remain contained. It seeps into communities and now, tragically, into classrooms,” Sinarimbo noted.
Sinarimbo appealed for accountability and actions to determine the circumstances behind the incident amid the reported clashes between warring factions in Olandang-Kudaranggan area.
The fatal bullet was allegedly fired from one of two camps in a fierce armed clash at Barangay Olandang, Nabalawag in the Special Geographic Area (SGA) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“It comes at a time when the alarming shameless public display of firearms on social media has already caught the attention of the national government, particularly in the Senate of the Philippines,” Sinarimbo said.
“These dangerous signals should have served as a warning—violence, when normalized, inevitably harms the innocent. We call for a thorough investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable,” he added.
Schools are zones of peace, Sinarimbo emphasized. He said it is a big insult to the peace process that incidents like this in which innocent civilians, particularly children, are made to pay the price of a conflict.
“We condemn this very unfortunate incident. Schools are considered a safe space for our children. It is unacceptable in any norms that a child just learning how to write would suddenly lose life in the environs of armed conflict” Bangsamoro MP said.
“We must do everything in our power to ensure that violence never again defines our communities. For the sake of our children and the generations to come, we must protect peace, uphold the rule of law, and reject all forms of armed conflict,” Sinarimbo added.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Lawmaker seeks probe over death of student from stray bullet”
