Prosecutors have recommended the filing of criminal charges against a police officer in Tacloban City, the aunt of the 14-year-old boy who, along with another student, is accused of opening fire at a school in the city in June.
Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson Polo Martinez on Tuesday confirmed that the Office of the City Prosecutor of Tacloban City is keen to pursue complaints for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and physical injuries against Police Staff Sergeant Arla Ray Paciencia in connection with the school shooting on June 22.
The recommendation for the charge, which is a bailable offense, was issued on Aug. 20. The complaint will be filed before the family court of the Tacloban City Regional Trial Court, said Martinez.
‘The recommendation follows the preliminary investigation conducted on the complaint filed by parents and students of San Jose National High School, in connection with the shooting incident involving a child in conflict with the law,’ Martinez said in a statement to reporters.
Paciencia, a native of Tacloban City, is identified as the aunt who owned the government-issued 9mm Glock 17 firearm that alias ‘Nash,’ a Grade 9 student, used in the shooting that left three people dead and at least 20 others injured.
The police officer, who has since been relieved from duty, said last month in a Senate inquiry into the incident that Nash broke into her home and stole her gun, which was supposedly stored in a ‘plastic locker.’
A Grade 10 student with the alias ‘Rod’ is accused of being the other shooter. Rod allegedly used a .38-caliber revolver registered to a Cebu-based security agency.
Not strong enough
Following another school shooting, this time in Zamboanga City, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla is pushing for tougher gun laws by making illegal possession of loose firearms a nonbailable offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
In a statement on Tuesday, Remulla said the current law is not a strong enough deterrent because suspects caught with loose firearms can still post bail while their cases are being heard.
Remulla last week urged Congress to ‘repeal [the law] and make [possession of] loose firearms a nonbailable charge again,’ stressing that tougher penalties could help address a wider range of crimes involving firearms.
At the same time, Remulla called on licensed gun owners to exercise greater responsibility in securing their weapons, noting that the firearm used by the Ateneo de Zamboanga shooter was government-issued and belonged to the suspect’s father, a Bureau of Customs employee.
Planted firearms
However, human rights group Karapatan criticized last week the DILG chief’s proposal to make illegal possession of firearms a nonbailable offense, warning that it could be used to prolong the detention of activists and other dissenters.
‘Many activists and other political opponents targeted for persecution have been slapped with trumped-up cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives based on evidence planted by the arresting teams,’ said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.
Palabay said that as of February 2025, at least 228 of the 697 political prisoners at the time were facing allegedly fabricated charges involving illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
‘Why should the answer to failures of law enforcement be more power to detain? The DILG proposal is especially concerning given the routine planting of firearms and explosives to build cases to indefinitely jail activists,’ Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim told the Inquirer.
‘The DILG chief should be reminded that the Zamboanga shooting did not involve ‘loose firearms’ but were reportedly owned by the student’s father, a customs officer,’ she added.
According to Republic Act No. 10591, known as the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, unlawfully possessing or acquiring one small arm is punishable by prision mayor.
Under the Philippines’ Revised Penal Code, prision mayor carries a prison sentence of 6 years and 1 day to 12 years for serious offenses.