CDO councilor asks why 7th grader with pistol was allowed in school

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines – Councilor Romeo Calizo, chair of the city council Committee on Police, Fire and Public Safety, wants to know why a seventh grader with a gun was allowed inside a school campus here last week, causing the accidental shooting of a 13-year-old student.

Calizo was referring to a seventh grader who accidentally shot a 13-year-old fellow student before the start of an activity inside a private school in Barangay Macasandig here on Thursday, Jan. 30.

He said he would ask during the regular session on Monday that a joint committee — composed of his committee along with those of the women and family and education committees — to convene and look into the case.

He said school officials, the student who brought the gun and his parents should be invited to explain why a student was allowed to bring a gun to school in the first place.

“I plan to hold it anytime next week,” he said, referring to the probe he planned to conduct on the accidental shooting.

He urged school and the rest of the schools in the city to see to it that such an incident would not happen again.

“The school should take appropriate action immediately and implement stricter measures to ensure that the incident will not happen again,” Calizo said.

He said the school administration should apprehend students who may have the tendency for violence inside the campus.

Police said the 13-year-old student who caused the accident brought with him to school a 9mm Glock pistol.

Maj. Evan Viñas, the city police spokesperson, said in a previous interview some students of the school were required to bring toy guns as props for a school activity.

The student reportedly fired the pistol by accident and hit a female classmate in the hip before the event started.

It was also reported that the student previously brought a hand grenade to school.

Calizo said he found it hard to believe that school authorities did not know one of their students had been carrying weapons inside the campus.

“It is a very rare sight for a student — and a minor at that — to be bringing a grenade, and later, a pistol to school,” he said, adding that both the parents and the school should be held liable for what happened.

/atm