BOC relieves Zamboanga port officer whose son is alleged school shooting suspect

Abi Sarabia M., Philippine Canadian Inquirer
August 19, 2026

Photo courtesy: Philippine News Agency

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has relieved a district commander at the Port of Zamboanga from his post after his son was identified as the alleged gunman in a shooting that killed a student at Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School, Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno said Tuesday.

Nepomuceno, in a phone interview with reporters, confirmed that the relieved officer served as district commander of the Port of Zamboanga’s Enforcement and Security Services. He said the move was meant to allow for an impartial probe into whether the officer was negligent in handling his firearm, not to punish him for his son’s alleged actions.

“He had nothing to do with his son’s alleged shooting. This is a tragedy for their family,” Nepomuceno said in Filipino. “But we need to relieve him from his post so there can be an impartial investigation as to whether there was negligence in the handling of his firearm.”

The alleged perpetrator, a Grade 9 student at the school, is accused of opening fire on Tuesday morning, killing a Grade 10 student, according to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who said the student used a pistol and a rifle in the attack.

However, a separate document circulated by the Philippine National Police Public Information Office offered a different account of the weapons involved, stating that the student allegedly used a standard pistol and a second pistol “fitted with a Roni Conversion kit to make it appear as a rifle.” The discrepancy between the two accounts of the weapons used has not been publicly reconciled by authorities.

Customs cites accountability, training

Nepomuceno said Customs personnel are required to account for firearms issued to them by the agency.

“Those who are issued a firearm have accountability,” he said, adding that the BOC provides personnel with training on securing their weapons “in the office, during missions, on the field and in their houses.”

He said Customs officers were attempting to reach the relieved officer to coordinate with him as part of the investigation.

Nepomuceno noted that he had ordered a “thorough review” of the Bureau’s firearm issuance system roughly two months before the shooting, as part of an effort to strengthen gun safety protocols within the agency. It was not immediately clear whether that review has been completed or what its findings, if any, have shown.