Notes from an Atenean, Mother, and Former Rebel

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — There are places in our memory that we believe will always be safe. For me, Ateneo de Zamboanga University is one of them.

I spent my high school years walking its halls, entering its classrooms and seeing students carrying books, bags and dreams for the future. Now that I am a mother of high school students myself, the news of Tuesday’s shooting inside the campus struck me in a deeply personal way.

That sense of safety was shattered on August 18.

Authorities said a Grade 9 student entered the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School campus with two firearms and fatally shot a Grade 10 student. The alleged assailant also died. At least two others were injured, while the gunfire sent students and teachers running or hiding for safety. Investigators are still determining what drove the attack and how the weapons were brought inside the campus

Behind those official reports are children.

They are sons and daughters, classmates, friends and siblings. Their lives should have been filled with examinations, friendships, school activities and plans for the future, not fear, gunfire and death.

I speak about this tragedy not only as an Atenean and a mother, but also as a former rebel who has seen where violence can lead.

What violence leaves behind

Having once been part of an armed struggle, I know something about violence that many people may encounter only through news reports.

I once believed that violence could be justified by a cause. Experience taught me otherwise. Whatever words are used to defend it, the people who eventually pay the price are often ordinary families.

Children grow up without parents. Parents bury their children. Communities learn to live in fear. Young people inherit wounds created by conflicts they did not begin.

Violence does not give young people a future. It takes away their choices, their opportunities and, in the most painful cases, their lives. That is why seeing violence enter a school is especially difficult for me. A classroom should be one of the last places where a child has to fear for his or her life.

More than a breach in school security

There must be a serious and transparent investigation into how the firearms entered the campus and whether security protocols were properly followed.

The Bureau of Customs confirmed that one of the weapons was a BOC-issued Glock .40-caliber pistol assigned to the alleged assailant’s father, who headed the Enforcement and Security Services at the Port of Zamboanga. The other was reportedly his privately owned and licensed firearm. The official was relieved from his post pending an investigation into possible lapses in their custody and safekeeping.

These facts raise questions that cannot be brushed aside: How did a minor gain access to two firearms? How were they carried into a school? Were gun-storage rules followed at home? Were there warning signs that adults failed to recognize? And what must schools, parents and authorities change to prevent another tragedy?

These questions are not being raised to fuel another round of public blame. They must be answered because children cannot afford another institutional failure.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered an investigation and called for stronger school safeguards. The Department of Education, meanwhile, is coordinating with mental-health partners to provide psychological first aid and psychosocial support to affected students and school personnel. That support must continue even after public attention has moved elsewhere.

Security cannot stop at the school gate

Guards, metal detectors, bag inspections, CCTV cameras and stricter entry procedures are necessary. But they are only part of the solution.

We must also pay closer attention to what is happening in the lives of our children.

Are they being bullied or isolated? Are they struggling with anger, anxiety or problems at home? Have there been sudden changes in their behavior? Are adults listening when they try to speak? Are they being influenced or recruited into groups that do not have their best interest in mind? 

We must understand the influences young people encounter online. Some digital spaces may normalize cruelty, self-harm, revenge or violence. Others may gradually radicalize young people into believing that armed struggle is a viable and justified means of resolving the country’s political and social problems.

As a former rebel, I know that radicalization does not always begin with the presentation of violence. It can start with frustration, a sense of injustice and repeated exposure to messages that divide the world into enemies and allies. Violence is then presented not only as acceptable, but as necessary and even heroic. Online platforms can accelerate that process and allow such messages to reach young people without their parents or teachers knowing.

We must be especially careful not to assign blame based on a person’s name, religion, ethnicity, family background or social-media profile. It would be both unjust and dangerous to use this tragedy to cast suspicion on Muslim students or the wider Muslim community.

Zamboanga is home to people of different faiths and cultures who share the same schools, neighborhoods and hopes for their children. Responding to violence with prejudice would only create another form of harm.

What is needed is a comprehensive response: responsible firearm ownership, attentive parenting, stronger school safety, accessible psychosocial services, responsible digital citizenship, early intervention and meaningful communication among students, families, teachers and authorities.

What armed struggle taught me about peace

I once knew a very different kind of classroom. One in which young people were taught to see violence as a necessary path toward change.

Today, I understand that one of the greatest victories we can give our children is not teaching them how to fight, but allowing them to learn without fear.

We must teach young people to question information, recognize manipulation and understand the consequences of messages that glorify violence. But we must do this without treating dissent, religious identity or political awareness as signs of radicalization. Young people should be encouraged to care about injustice and participate in democratic life. What we must challenge is the idea that taking up arms is the only meaningful response to the country’s problems.

No ideology, grievance, anger or personal conflict should convince a young person that violence is the answer. The classroom must never become a battlefield. A student should never have to enter school already thinking about where to hide if someone begins shooting.

This is also why the continuing work for peace and development matters. Peace is not merely the absence of armed encounters. It is also the presence of safe schools, functioning families, responsive communities, accessible mental-health services, accountable institutions and genuine opportunities for young people.

For former rebels like me, that lesson is not theoretical. It was learned through experience, and, often, through loss.

We grieve with the Ateneo community

Today, I look at Ateneo not merely as an alumna, but as a mother. I think of the parents who sent their children to school believing they would return safely that afternoon. I think of the students who heard the gunshots and hid inside their classrooms. I think of the teachers who had to protect their students while confronting something unimaginable.

Most of all, I think of the families whose children will never come home. No words can repair that loss.

Ateneo declared August 19 a day of mourning and prayer. Zamboanga City likewise declared a citywide day of mourning and suspended classes at all levels.

Let the community grieve. Respect the privacy of the families involved. Stop circulating graphic videos, screenshots and unverified information. The Philippine National Police has appealed to the public not to share the footage and has ordered coordination with social-media platforms for its removal.

Children do not need to watch violence repeatedly replayed on their screens. They need adults who will listen to them, protect them and show them that conflict can be resolved without causing harm.

This must become a turning point

The Ateneo de Zamboanga shooting happened less than two months after the deadly school shooting in Tacloban City. Two such tragedies within a short period should compel the government and education authorities to undertake a broader review of school safety nationwide.

But the response cannot end with more guards at school entrances. We need stricter firearm accountability, especially in homes with children. We need better coordination among schools, parents, law enforcement agencies and social services. Counseling and early intervention must be accessible to students in distress. Children must also be taught empathy, responsible digital behavior and peaceful ways of resolving conflict.

Above all, young people need families and communities where they can speak about their problems before those problems become crises.

As a former rebel, I learned that peace is not built through slogans. It is built through the choices we make each day, whether we answer anger with more anger or with dialogu, whether we glorify violence or reject it, whether we ignore a troubled child or reach out before it is too late.

As an Atenean, I choose to remember my school as a place of learning, formation and hope. As a mother, I want my children, and every Filipino child, to experience that same sense of safety.

And as someone who walked away from armed struggle, I believe more strongly than ever that the future of our children must never be decided by violence. Our schools must remain places where young people learn how to build a better country, and not places where they discover how quickly violence can destroy one.