Charges filed vs 15-year-old suspect in Tacloban school shooting

MANILA, Philippines — Four charges of frustrated murder and six for attempted murder were filed by the Tacloban City prosecutor against the 15-year-old who opened fire inside the San Jose National High School that left three students dead and 20 injured, the Department of Justice announced. DOJ Undersecretary Ian Norman Dato said the cases were recently filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Tacloban, with a recommended bail of P72,000 for each count of frustrated murder and P36,000 for each of the attempted murder charge. The 15-year-old was the boy who carried a .38-caliber revolver registered to a security agency based in Cebu City during the campus violence. Dato said the prosecutors "found that he acted with discernment and in conspiracy with a second minor," the 14-year-old who reportedly fired most of the shots using a 9-mm pistol owned by his aunt, a policewoman. Initial investigation disclosed only one bullet was missing from the 15-year-old’s gun. DOJ spokesman Polo Martinez noted in a follow-up statement that the Tacloban prosecutor earlier charged the 15-year-old with three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, for "conspiring with a second, criminally-exempt minor." These cases, he said, were filed on July 13 before the Family Court of the Tacloban RTC. But earlier reports said the Tacloban City police filed complaints for three counts of murder, three counts of frustrated murder and multiple counts of serious physical injuries against the 15-year-old. Both suspects were turned over to the Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth, with the 14-year-old facing intervention at a Bahay Pag-asa facility for delinquent juveniles. Dato maintained that "the criminal process will not apply" to the 14-year-old, who will "have to undergo intervention mechanisms as appropriately determined by the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development)." During a Senate hearing in July, authorities hinted at "adult groomers" recruiting the suspects online to carry out the violence. This incident raises concerns about juvenile delinquency, online radicalization, and access to firearms in the Philippines.