MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police is tightening firearm-accountability measures for its personnel as a second deadly school shooting in less than two months intensifies scrutiny over a disturbing question: How are weapons assigned to government personnel ending up within reach of children?
PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. has ordered police commanders nationwide to reinforce rules on the storage and handling of firearms, particularly when officers are off duty and keeping their weapons at home.
The directive comes after the August 18 shooting at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School, where a teenage student brought firearms onto campus, killed another student and later died during the incident.
Nartatez said police personnel must exercise the highest level of responsibility in securing their weapons, stressing that firearms should never be accessible to children or other unauthorized individuals. The PNP will now incorporate stronger firearm-accountability reminders into unit briefings and formations.
But the Zamboanga case has pushed the issue far beyond routine reminders.
One of the guns was issued by the Bureau of Customs
The Bureau of Customs confirmed that one of the firearms involved in the Ateneo de Zamboanga shooting was a Glock 22 .40-caliber pistol issued by the BOC to the suspected gunman’s father, Lt. Lars Jalani, then district commander of the Enforcement and Security Services at the Port of Zamboanga.
BOC Deputy Commissioner Nolasco Bathan said the second firearm was personally owned but licensed, according to verification from the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office.
That distinction is significant because some initial accounts described both weapons as government-issued. Authorities released conflicting preliminary descriptions in the hours after the shooting, illustrating why details surrounding major incidents can change as investigators establish ownership and provenance.
Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno subsequently relieved Jalani from his post while authorities investigate whether negligence occurred in the custody and safekeeping of the weapon. Nepomuceno also ordered a physical inventory of firearms issued throughout the BOC and a review of the agency’s policies covering firearm custody, transportation, storage and safekeeping.
The case has therefore become more than a discussion about school security.
It is increasingly a debate about what happens to government and privately owned firearms after their legal owners bring them home.
Tacloban shooting had already raised the same warning
The Zamboanga tragedy was not the first major school shooting this year involving a weapon linked to government personnel.
On June 22, three students were killed and numerous others were wounded in a shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City.
Police recovered a Glock pistol that investigators said had been issued to a police officer who was the aunt of one of the minor suspects. A second weapon recovered in the investigation was a .38-caliber revolver linked to a security agency.
After that attack, police units in Negros and Siquijor were specifically reminded to secure government-issued firearms against unauthorized access, theft and misuse.
The PNP also began reviewing firearm regulations after investigators encountered possible irregularities involving the serial number of one weapon recovered in the Tacloban case.
Less than two months later, another school shooting has brought firearm accessibility back to the center of the national conversation.
Philippine law already requires secure firearm storage
The debate is not taking place in a legal vacuum.
Republic Act No. 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, already requires licensed individual gun owners to have a vault, locked container or other security measure for the safekeeping of firearms.
The law also places the PNP, through its Firearms and Explosives Office, at the center of firearm licensing and registration in the country.
The emerging policy question is therefore not simply whether safe-storage requirements exist.
It is whether authorities can determine that those safeguards are actually being followed inside homes.
PNP considers stronger requirements for gun owners
Nartatez has separately instructed the PNP Civil Security Group to develop updated guidelines that could require applicants and renewing firearm owners to undergo a more comprehensive gun-safety seminar emphasizing proper storage.
The police chief said recent firearm incidents involving minors repeatedly point back to the same vulnerability: accessibility.
Under the proposal, firearm education would focus more heavily on preventing children, relatives and other unauthorized people from gaining access to weapons.
That could represent a shift from checking whether an applicant understands firearm safety to putting greater emphasis on how that firearm will actually be secured after a license is issued.
Tulfo wants homes inspected before gun licenses are approved
Sen. Raffy Tulfo is calling for an even stronger approach.
Tulfo has proposed requiring the PNP to physically inspect an applicant’s firearm-storage setup before issuing a License to Own and Possess Firearms, or LTOPF.
Under his proposal, authorities would verify whether a gun owner has a secure storage location that prevents children and other people from easily reaching the weapon.
Tulfo is also advocating stronger criminal accountability when a licensed owner’s firearm is used by somebody else in an unlawful act.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has likewise called on Congress to revisit existing firearm laws and strengthen penalties and accountability when legally registered weapons fall into the hands of minors.
Whether those proposals will ultimately become law remains unresolved.
Schools are strengthening their defenses too
While authorities examine gun ownership and storage, schools are simultaneously preparing for threats that reach campus.
The PNP is supporting Department of Education school-safety exercises scheduled nationwide for August 25, involving coordination among schools, police units, barangays and local governments.
The government has also been studying tighter access controls, emergency-response training and active-shooter simulations following the Tacloban attack.
Those measures may help schools respond more effectively once a threat appears.
But metal detectors, guards and emergency drills address only one side of the problem.
The deeper question is how a firearm reaches a child before that child ever arrives at the school gate.
The issue now reaches beyond police-issued weapons
The Zamboanga investigation also illustrates why the debate cannot be confined to PNP firearms alone.
The government-issued weapon involved in that case belonged to a Bureau of Customs official, not a police officer. The Tacloban investigation, meanwhile, involved both a police-issued pistol and another firearm from outside the PNP.
That means strengthening police internal rules may close only part of the vulnerability.
Government agencies that issue firearms, civilian licensed gun owners and regulators responsible for licensing and inspections may all face pressure to demonstrate that weapons are stored in ways that genuinely prevent unauthorized access.
The BOC has already begun its own inventory and compliance review following the Zamboanga attack.
From gun ownership to gun accountability
For years, much of the Philippine firearms debate has focused on who is legally entitled to own or carry a gun.
The latest school shootings are forcing a different question:
What responsibility should begin after the license has already been issued?
The existing law requires secure storage. The PNP is now emphasizing enforcement and education. Lawmakers are discussing inspections and stronger penalties. Government agencies are auditing their own weapons.
Taken together, those developments suggest the policy debate may be moving toward a more demanding standard — one in which legal ownership alone is not enough.
A firearm owner may also have to prove that nobody else can get to the weapon.
And after two deadly school attacks in less than two months, that may become the most consequential part of the Philippines’ next gun-control debate.
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