MANILA, Philippines — The Grade 9 student from Ateneo de Zamboanga who shot dead a classmate before killing himself on Tuesday got the firearm from his father who allegedly left the weapon inside a bag in his car, Interior Secretar Jonvic Remulla said on Wednesday, as he called for tougher penalties against gunowners.
At the same time, Remulla said the student's livestream of the shooting seemed to have been influenced by violent online games and an online forum that allows users to share and discuss graphic, unfiltered videos and images of real-life human deaths.
Remulla said firearm ownership carried not only the privilege of possessing a gun but also the responsibility to ensure that it was properly secured and could not be accessed by unauthorized persons.
“I call upon Congress to enact laws that will penalize gun owners for the non-safekeeping of their weapons,” Remulla said during a media briefing with Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr.
He said existing laws did not adequately hold firearm owners accountable when their weapons were accessed by another person and used to commit a crime.
Remulla pointed to the Ateneo shooting and a previous incident in Tacloban City involving a firearm reportedly belonging to a member of the military as examples of the problem of minors gaining access to firearms.
In the Ateneo case, authorities said the firearm used by the student belonged to his father. Nartatez said the father had told investigators that the student had no prior experience in handling or using a firearm, although police were checking whether the student had visited shooting ranges in the area.
He said investigators were still looking into how the student gained access to the firearm and were examining all possible circumstances surrounding its possession and use.
Remulla said gun owners should face a penalty beyond reckless imprudence when their failure to properly secure a firearm allows another person to use it to kill or injure others.
“It is not as simple as a car that gets into an accident. Lives are at stake,” Remulla said.
The DILG chief also called for renewed efforts to eliminate loose and illegal firearms, which he said were involved in 98 percent of crimes committed with guns.
He urged Congress to revisit existing laws to make loose firearms less accessible and strengthen measures against their possession and use.
Remulla said the government would also review the rules on firearm safekeeping among uniformed personnel, including members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the PNP.
He noted that hundreds of thousands of uniformed personnel were legally authorized to carry firearms and said the government must ensure that they strictly complied with existing safety requirements, particularly when bringing their weapons home.
“We will revisit, and we will be trained, and we will reiterate their responsibility,” he said.
Meanwhile, Remulla said that the gun the boy used in the shooting belonged to his father, the Customs Zamboanga Port chief who has since been dismissed after the incident. Investigation showed that the father left his guns inside his car en route to school.
Remulla said Ateneo de Zamboana had 25 security guards making rounds day and night.
Each individual is thoroughly searched upon entry via the pedestrian gate but no search is done when students enter the school aboard vehicles.
Speaking in Filipino, Remulla said the boy was on board his father's car that's why he wasn't searched. He said the boy went straight to the basement with his father's gunbag.
Remulla said they found the father's explanation “highly improbable” because gun safety and safe keeping are imperative in the training of all uniformed personnel.
Remulla said in Filipino that all police officers treated their guns like their spouses. "They don't leave them behind; they always carry them."
Remulla said there were two police vehicles outside on top of the university’s security contingent, indicating that there were security measures in place given the incidents of past school-related violence.
“But we need to go further,” he said.
Livestream on a violent website
Quoting initial reports, Remulla said the young shooter made a livestream on a website called watchpeopledie.com.
“So it gives us a scenario na sa kanyang intent ay mapakita sa mundo ang kanyang ginagawa,” Remulla said.
(So it gives us a scenario that his intent was to show the world what he was doing.)
WatchPeopleDie is an online forum and shock site dedicated to sharing and discussing graphic, unfiltered videos and images of real-life human deaths, including homicides, suicides, accidents, and executions, according to adl.org, a Jewish non-governmental organization and anti-hate advocacy group.
It is a forum where users can post and view real images and videos of violence, including murders, torture, rape, executions, beheadings, suicides, dismemberments, accidents and animal killings.
Likely influenced by violent video game
By the way the shooting was done which, as seen in the video, was a first person shooter manner, Remulla said there was a great likelihood that the young shooter was influenced by violent online games — an angle likewise seen in the previous Tacloban school shooting.
“We still have two forensic examinations on the gadget of the shooter. Hindi pa natin alam (We don’t know) with certainty, but it is with great degree of confidence that he was influenced by the game of Roblox because of the manner in which he did it,” Remulla said.
While Remulla previously pushed for broader controls or bans on violent video games, he clarified that the game itself was not inherently dangerous, pointing instead to internal chat features and radicalization risks given the incidents of past school-related violence.
Village watchmen inside schools after Zamboanga shooting Remulla said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is seeking to allow village watchmen (barangay tanods) to establish posts inside schools as part of tighter security measures following the shooting.
Remulla said the DILG and Department of Education (DepEd) are set to sign an agreement strengthening security protocols in schools.
“We already have a memorandum circular (on tightening security protocols in schools) that will be signed by the Department of Education,” Remulla said.
Remulla said the proposed measure would allow village watchmen who are familiar with their communities and the students, to establish stations inside school premises.
“What we are asking is to allow the village watchmen to put up a station inside schools,” Remulla said.
He said village watchmen could help identify and address potential problems involving students because they are familiar with the community.
“They know these children, they can talk to them, they can reprimand them,” Remulla said.
The proposal would complement the security measures already being implemented by the PNP, whose presence is currently focused largely on areas outside school premises, Remulla said.
He said stronger security inside school grounds was needed because incidents involving students could also occur within school premises.
In an earlier interview, Remulla said the DepEd and PNP had signed a memorandum circular directing police officers to monitor and implement security measures outside public schools nationwide.
The proposed agreement would also address bullying in schools, with Remulla citing measures implemented at Ateneo de Manila University as a possible model for other schools.
“Incidents of bullying should not be taken lightly… There are steps that we can take together para mangyari iyan, pero may hakbang na kami ng DepEd para dyan,” he said.
The DILG is continuing its investigation into the Ateneo de Zamboanga University shooting while coordinating with DepEd, the PNP, local government units and other government agencies and private institutions to strengthen measures against crime, violence, bullying and other threats to students’ safety.
