Scrap Robin Padilla Law

It was devastating to hear about another shooting incident in our schools, yet another disturbing sign of the times.

This puts the spotlight on the problem of irresponsible gun ownership and gun use in the Philippines.

Perhaps, Tuesday morning’s tragedy at the Ateneo de Zamboanga could have been avoided if only the teenage boy had not had access to the 9 mm pistol belonging to his father, a district commander of the Bureau of Customs’ Enforcement and Security Services at the Zamboanga port.

It was a similar case in the Tacloban shooting months ago, where teenage boys also killed their schoolmates and wounded 20 others. One of the shooters used a 9 mm pistol that belonged to his aunt, a policewoman.

This is becoming the bigger tragedy – teenagers having easy access to guns, when securing these firearms should be the responsibility of the adults who own or are authorized to carry these deadly weapons.

The tragedy is shocking and heartbreaking to all of us, parents or not. It is, of course, especially devastating to every parent with a child in Ateneo de Zamboanga, or any other school for that matter.

Stricter laws on gun ownership

The government must implement stricter laws on guns and make sure that adults are held to account if their guns are accessed by anyone, including minors.

It must also destroy the black market for firearms. A thriving underground market for guns is said to exist in Cebu, Negros and in some provinces in Mindanao.

‘Robin Padilla Law’

And that so-called Robin Padilla Law or Republic Act 8294, which the senator’s wife trumpeted in a video as one of her husband’s accomplishments, had actually made illegal possession of firearms bailable.

DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla said this is one of the reasons for the growing incidence of gun crimes, noting that 98 percent of gun crimes were committed with loose firearms. He urged Congress to make illegal possession non-bailable again.

Schools, supposedly the second home of our children where they spend most of their day, are supposed to be safe spaces, spaces where they can learn without fear and thrive without danger.

And yet, the latest shooting rampage, which the teenage boy reportedly livestreamed on social media, shows that the safety that our kids used to enjoy is now being threatened by these disturbing and growing incidents of school shootings.

Whole-of-government

In a video that was seemingly livestreamed on Facebook and circulated by local media, the barrel of a gun is seen moving down a hallway in the style of a first-person shooter video game before being aimed into a classroom and fired, according to the AFP.

“In the video, we see that he first shot at the teacher who was sitting at a desk,” Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Olaso told a local radio station. “It seems he missed, then moved to another room [and] shot another student there.” (Deusche Welle, Aug. 18, 2026).

I watched it and true enough, I felt I was inside a violent video game.

It is dangerous to speculate at this point if such aggressive online games with gun-trotting heroes or villains negatively impact users’ behavior, including teenagers.

But just the same, schools, parents and guardians, with the help of experts, should look into this and see where intervention may be necessary.

Schools must also make sure that there are regular drills on what to do in case of an active shooter. The Ateneo de Zamboanga campus became one of many educational institutions across the country to conduct active-shooter drills.

Undermining the right to education

If left unaddressed, violence in, around and through schools undermines children’s right to education. Violence also undermines a child’s right to live free from all forms of violence.

As Robert Jenkins, UNICEF global director for education and adolescent development, and Line Baago-Rasmussen, global coordinator for Safe to Learn, point out, violence in and around schools undermines children’s fundamental right to education and their right to grow up free from violence.

Globally, it is estimated that a minimum of 115 million children and adolescents experience school-related gender-based violence in the form of physical, psychological and/or sexual violence every year. Girls in particular are disproportionately affected – in school, on the way to school, at home and online. Violence hampers prospects for gender equality, mental health and well-being and socio-economic equity. The cost of violence in schools is an estimated $11 trillion in lost lifetime earnings.

This is according to a 2024 article on the Safe to Learn Coalition website.

Educating our children

Violence can be preventable.

And the education sector should play a crucial role toward this goal.

I’ve always believed that education has the power to change generations of bad behavior.

It can reverse the ills and curse of a society by educating a new generation of citizens.

As Jenkins and Rasmussen said, “education has the power to challenge rather than replicate social and gender norms and behaviors that perpetuate violence in and around schools. This has the potential to impact results both in and beyond education. Classroom by classroom, we can foster social cohesion, peace and gender equality for future generations.”

Against this backdrop, we must teach our children about the dangers of violence and how it destroys lives; we must teach them to choose other paths for conflict resolution and finally, teach them to bequeath to their children a world safer than the one they inherited.

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