By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
What happened on the sidewalk outside Atherton Place, also known as JCRV Building, at the corner of Tomas Morato and Roces Avenue in Quezon City, is nothing short of spine-tingling: a grade schooler lying on the pavement, trembling, blood streaming from his head. He and a classmate, both from Don Alejandro Roces Sr. Science-Technology High School, were struck by chunks of cement that broke away from the fourth floor of the condominium.
Cellphone videos now making the rounds online zoom in on what appears to be the exact spot where the slab chipped off. Alarmingly, just inches away are two cell sites bolted into the side of a balcony. I’m no engineer, but if I were to hazard a guess, the building manager who greenlit that installation has a lot of explaining to do.
It also begs the question: is this standard practice for cell site installers? If so, three children on their way home from school just came within a heartbeat of being crushed. The companies involved may write this off as an isolated incident — but Firing Line dares them to take a hard look at their installation protocols.
No innocent life should be cut short by poor workmanship or sheer indifference.
Bullying generation
Bullying in Philippine schools has been a recurring cause of alarm for the Department of Education, trending as news more frequently than quarterly grading periods. And quite noticeably, the cases in point are ridiculously shocking!
Of course, all of us either experienced or witnessed bullying in our young lives, but it’s horrifying how today’s Gen Alpha campus life appears to have the toxicity and violence levels of hell.
In April 2025, a video of a girl being attacked by classmates inside a classroom at Bagong Silangan High School prompted DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara to enlist Quezon City police assistance, underscoring the gravity of such incidents.
In June, acknowledging the real criminal behavior in these student-linked violent cases, PNP Chief Nicolas Torre included bullying as one of the major concerns for 911 hotline responders. Then in July, DepEd intensified enforcement of the Anti-Bullying Act, mandating that all schools establish child protection committees to respond effectively to complaints, especially amid rising physical and cyberbullying.
Now, we’ve hardly hit the middle of August, and new and disturbing incidents are surfacing once again: a student seriously injured in Basilan from an assault by his classmates, and — for Pete’s sake! — a teacher was gunned down by his own student for giving a failing grade.
I may not have research data on hand, but I’ll risk offering my own observations on what’s driving this. As a father and a keen observer, I see two major culprits.
First, the games Gen Alphas play. I mean, unlike our harmless childhood arcades when we shot at balloons, bottles, and barrels, today they have these hyper-realistic, gun-firing online games that condition them to treat human characters as enemies. That kind of programming cultivates a “kill-or-be-killed” mindset.
Second, the violent, prank-heavy content on TikTok and YouTube, which is often defended as “just content” or staged. However, these viral videos cultivate the very violent reactions of real people who consume them on their smartphones as pure entertainment.
Why not begin by banning these online? Let’s save our kids.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View via X app (formerly Twitter). Read current and past issues of this column at http://www.thephilbiznews.com
