Hontiveros wants Meta, gun rules tightened after school shootings

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

ILOILO CITY — Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Friday, Aug. 21, called for a “multi-faceted” approach to prevent a repeat of the school shootings that have hit the country in recent months.

Hontiveros said the Aug. 18 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University remains under investigation.

The attack at the school’s junior high campus killed a Grade 10 student and the Grade 9 student who shot him, and wounded nine others, according to police and school officials.

Police recovered two 9mm Glock pistols at the scene, one issued by the Bureau of Customs to an employee at the Port of Zamboanga and the other licensed to the shooter’s father.

The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, which Hontiveros chairs, began its inquiry into the incident on Thursday, Aug. 20.

The inquiry included a commitment from the shooter’s parents to turn over his gadgets to investigators for digital forensic examination.

The examination aims to trace the shooter’s digital footprint and determine whether nihilistic violent extremism, or NVE, played a role in the incident.

“The parents agreed to turn over the gadgets to the investigators for digital forensic investigation to know what the factors were, including [NVE],” Hontiveros said in a press conference.

Hontiveros said the Senate had seen indications of NVE during a similar inquiry into the June shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City.

“In the two months since [the hearings on the Tacloban shooting], the different stakeholders are trying to catch up their capacities to resolve that issue, and maybe in the back of their minds, prevent a repeat,” she said.

“The findings so far in Tacloban [were] that there are indications of the role of NVE in the shooting,” she added.

The June 22 Tacloban shooting left three students dead and seven others injured, according to authorities.

Two students, ages 14 and 15, were taken into custody hours after that attack.

Investigators said the guns used in Tacloban were a 9mm Glock issued to a policewoman assigned to Police Regional Office 8, an aunt of one of the suspects, and a .38-caliber revolver registered to a security agency in Cebu City.

The Department of Justice said in June it was examining whether the Tacloban attack stemmed from a pattern of nihilistic violent extremism rather than from bullying alone.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose framework the department cited, describes NVE as violence meant to sow chaos and hasten the destruction of society, driven by decentralized online networks that glorify mass killers, violence, and self-harm.

Hontiveros said NVE was being amplified through social media and other online platforms to reach younger people and draw them into extreme philosophies or ideologies.

“NVE is a transnational phenomenon that, through their networks, convinces children that life doesn’t matter, that nothing matters, that violence is acceptable, whether it’s towards the self and others, even other children. Sometimes, NVE carries extreme ideologies against certain groups of people,” the senator said.

“Unfortunately, NVE abuses internet channels, certain social media spaces [and] platforms, to reach even our Filipino children and students. [There has to be a] safe space for all netizens especially our children but malign actors enter these spaces to identify, recruit, and lure children out of these safe spaces,” she added.

The Zamboanga shooting was the second fatal school shooting in the Philippines in less than two months, renewing concerns over online influences, firearm access, and school safety.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has said the country may need to review its school safety policies and extend government oversight to private schools, which fall outside much of the existing framework.

Hontiveros reiterated the senators’ position during the Aug. 20 hearing that responsibility for preventing violence should not rest solely with parents.

“Resolving this problem, preventing further serious violence, a lot of stakeholders have to chime in,” the senator said.

“We reminded parents to regularly talk to their children. Check on them [and] accompany them through problems. Aside from the [Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center], our homes and families are the first line of defense to make our kids feel secure.”

“Schools also have great responsibility over safety and security protocols on campus, but at the same time, all stakeholders have to chime in,” she added.

Hontiveros also highlighted the responsibility of social media platforms, particularly Meta, to prevent recorded and broadcast material from being further disseminated.

Meta Platforms Inc. owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

She cited a Facebook livestream of the Zamboanga shooting that remained online for 14 minutes before being taken down, and was subsequently circulated through file-sharing methods.

“Meta and other such companies have to upgrade their community standards. They have to speed up their response time,” she said.

Hontiveros also expressed support for stricter firearms regulation, particularly for government-issued guns.

Both the Tacloban and Zamboanga incidents involved firearms issued to members of law enforcement agencies, she said.

“They are the ones with the most knowledge and responsibility to secure their firearms, to keep them out of reach of [the children],” she said.

“If we can lessen the number of firearms that are spread out, of whatever status, [whether] it’s in the hands of government personnel [or] civilians, licensed or unlicensed, if we lessen the proliferation of firearms, I believe we can also reduce gun-related incidents and gun-related violence,” she added.

Hontiveros also reacted to reports on schools implementing the use of transparent bags for learners.

“If there is already a see-through bag, well and good, [but] if there is no see-through bag, let’s not add to the expenses of the parents, especially in the public schools,” she said.