DOJ moves to indict gun owner in Tacloban shooting for criminal negligence
The Department of Justice has passed a resolution indicting the owner of the gun used in the Tacloban school shooting incident in June, Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said on Monday, Aug. 24.
Vida disclosed the update during the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations' 2027 budget hearing for the DOJ.
Akbayan Party-list Rep. Dadah Karam Ismula asked Vida if the gun owner had already been charged.
"As of today, the owner of the gun in the Tacloban shooting, our local prosecutor's office in Tacloban already...issued the resolution indicting the owner of the gun for criminal negligence," Vida replied, choosing not to share more details about which of the two gun owners he was referring to.
On June 22, two minors opened fire at students and teachers at San Jose National High School in Tacloban during class hours. Three students were killed while 20 individuals were injured.
According to police reports, two weapons were used in the attack: a 9mm Glock pistol and a .38-caliber revolver. The Glock had been issued to a female PRO-8 police officer. She is allegedly the aunt of one of the suspects. Per PCol Allen Rae Co in an interview with DZMM, the police officer was relieved from her post soon after the incident.
During the July 1 hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, the police officer, Police Staff Sergeant Arla Paciencia, said her nephew "unlawfully entered" her house and broke the plastic locker where she kept her Glock in a plastic gun box.
The revolver used in the shooting was registered to a security agency in Cebu City.
