A soldier opened fire at an army camp in southern Philippines early Saturday morning, killing four of his colleagues and leaving one critically injured, before he was shot dead by other military personnel.
The gunman, identified in local reports as Johmar Villabito, began his rampage at about 1 a.m. at Camp Evangelista, an army compound in Cagayan de Oro City, northern Mindanao. Armed with an M16 assault rifle, he quietly entered five separate rooms where military personnel were sleeping.
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In the final room, two soldiers had woken to the sound of gunshots. When the shooter entered the room, the men tackled Villabito and fatally shot him. The wounded soldier is in stable condition after receiving treatment.
“We assure the public that this is an isolated incident,” Francisco Garello, the spokesperson for Villabito’s military unit, said in a statement on Saturday.
Despite Garello’s words, this is at least the fourth shooting in three years committed by military personnel in the country.
The Philippine Army Spokesperson Xerxes Trinidad added on Saturday that the army was conducting an internal investigation into the cause of the attack and to “identify gaps in [their] recruitment and training process” to prevent similar attacks.
Villabito’s military unit, which focuses on counter-insurgency operations in the region, was recently visited by Army Chief Romeo Brawner Jr. to celebrate its 53rd anniversary of the 4th Infantry Division.
During the visit, Brawner expressed concern over increasing cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the army, saying that they would assign psychologists to provide treatment to affected soldiers, local media reported.
Although the motive behind the shooting on Saturday remains unclear, experts say more could be done in the future to avoid similar attacks.
Gerry Caño, dean of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at PHINMA-Cagayan de Oro College, told VICE World News that the shooting was a “good wake-up call” for the authorities to look into its mental health screening processes before equipping military or law enforcement personnel with firearms.
“While it’s true it’s isolated,” he said, “it’s also an undeniable fact that there is a need for the Philippine army medical corps to look into the kind of treatment, services, and processes they are providing among members of the forces.”
“Because we know for a fact that they are allowed by the Philippine government and the law to carry arms… [We] must be assured that these members of the Philippine Army are really in top shape when we speak about mental health.”
Gun crime, both among civilians and by military personnel, is not uncommon in the Philippines. The country has one of the highest civilian gun ownership rates in Asia and a prominent gun culture, where owners of firearms range from gang members to priests.
Filipinos above 21 years old may legally own small arms after passing a background check and obtaining a possession license. Meanwhile, shootings by military personnel who are given firearms at their job, like the one at Camp Evangelista, have made headlines in recent years.
In June last year, a soldier opened fire on two of his colleagues, killing one, before shooting himself at a military camp in Camarines Sur Province. Police say the attack may have been linked to a dispute he had with his girlfriend. A similar shooting happened in Sulu province in 2020, where three soldiers were killed at an army compound after a heated argument broke out between the troops.
In December 2021, two military personnel were arrested after opening fire at civilians in Taguig City in Metro Manila, wounding six, including three teenagers. The shooting was triggered after a group of civilians threw stones at the officers during a Christmas celebration, police said.
Caño said that while such shootings are “not really that frequent,” the government should seriously reassess the security personnel they are arming.
“We call upon the entire Philippine government, particularly in the security sector—because this sector is provided with firearms—to look into and consider mental health as a primary requirement before one can possess firearms,” he said.
