Marcos receptive to violent game ban for minors after school shooting

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is open to proposals that would seek to ban violent online games that may negatively influence the youth, according to Palace press officer Claire Castro.

The remark comes after reports that one of the suspects in the deadly school shooting in Tacloban City was a frequent player of the online game GoreBox, which features weapon simulations and graphic violence.

“Actually, that has been discussed; it has been reported that these children are addicted to playing violent online gaming,” said Castro at a briefing on Tuesday when asked whether Marcos sees the need for the country to revise children’s access to social media and ask Congress to create such a measure.

READ: LIVE UPDATES: Tacloban high school shooting | June 23, 2026

“So it was discussed that those kinds of apps should be banned in the Philippines. So that’s a good suggestion, and I hope the president can enact a law soon and is open to such proposals,” the official continued.

Earlier in the day, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center imposed a temporary ban on GoreBox as a precautionary measure while the investigation into the shooting incident is ongoing. The agency also said the application would be blocked within the day.

‘Heavily influenced’ by online content

At the same briefing, Philippine National Police Public Information Office chief Col. Allen Rae Co said the suspects — 14-year-old alias “Nash” and 15-year-old alias “Rod” — appear to have been heavily influenced by online content.

“We can only say that in our initial investigation, especially this CICL [child in conflict with the law] alias ‘Nash’ was heavily influenced by online content,” said Co.

READ: Police: Tacloban school shooting suspect played ‘violent’ game

“We have seen what he has, aside from his own posts of violent videos, we are also looking into other groups or people he is involved with that could have motivated him to do this,” he added.

Co said investigators are looking into groups that alias “Nash” may have been influenced with, which could have affected or encouraged his actions. /das