Metro Manila, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is pushing for tougher penalties against gun owners who fail to properly secure firearms in the aftermath of a shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the initial investigation showed that the firearms belonged to the suspect’s father, who reportedly said he left his gun bag inside his vehicle, where the student was able to take it.
Remulla questioned the explanation, saying it was “highly improbable” because the gun owner is a uniformed police officer with training on firearm safety and safekeeping.
“Gun ownership is a privilege accorded to those who need to protect themselves. But that privilege carries with it not only the responsibility of ownership, but the responsibility of safekeeping,” Remulla said in a press briefing on Wednesday, Aug. 19.
He called on Congress to impose stiffer penalties for the non-safekeeping of firearms, as the offense for an owner whose legal firearm is used in a crime is only reckless imprudence, defined by law as “voluntarily doing or failing to do an act without malice, but resulting in material damage or injury due to an inexcusable lack of precaution, considering the offender’s job, intelligence, physical condition, and surroundings.”
He also urged lawmakers to review the law on loose firearms, saying almost all gun crimes use loose firearms.
Remulla specifically cited the so-called “Robin Padilla law,” or Republic Act 8294, which made loose firearm possession a bailable offense with lower penalties. He said this contributed to a surge in crime. The law earned the moniker because it was passed in 1997 while the actor served time for an illegal firearm conviction. He was a prominent beneficiary of the law retroactively until he was granted absolute pardon by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.
Meanwhile, authorities are checking whether the student had prior firearm experience. Investigators will look into shooting ranges despite the claim of the suspect’s father that the suspect had none.
The DILG said the Zamboanga school shooting was the second in two months in which a licensed firearm ended up in the hands of a student.
Remulla said around 2.78 million firearms proliferate nationwide, with around two million in the hands of private individuals and about 780,000 with uniformed personnel.
READ: PNP seeks murder charges for Tacloban school shooting suspect
Remulla calls for curbs on first person shooter games
Authorities are also investigating possible online influences on the suspect
Remulla said investigators are examining the student’s gadgets, including his cellphone, after authorities found that the shooting was livestreamed on a website.
He said the probe is also looking into the student’s reported use of sandbox game Roblox.
“Roblox in itself is not a dangerous game. It is the chat,” Remulla said, pointing to chat groups as spaces where young users may be encouraged or “radicalized.”
He called on Congress to consider measures to curb first-person shooter games and their influence on young users, but stressed that restricting games or social media alone would not solve the problem.
“Hindi naman one-size-fits-all ang solusyon dito sa problema na to eh,” Remulla said, calling for a broader response involving Congress, the PNP, government agencies and gun owners.
[Translation: There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem.]
Investigators continue to determine what factors may have influenced the suspect’s actions.
READ: Zamboanga shooter entered campus without security check — DILG
