Hontiveros denies GoreBox ban push, says Senate has no recommendation yet

• Photo courtesy of Senator Risa Hontiveros

Senator Risa Hontiveros denied that she called for a ban on GoreBox, saying the Senate Committee on Women has not issued any recommendation or finding on the matter.

“I never recommended, said, or even thought about banning any game including this Gorebox,” Hontiveros said in a Facebook post.

In another post, Hontiveros said there are still no findings or recommendations from the committee because the hearing is only scheduled to take place on June 30.

“Wala pang recommendation ni [or] findings na lumalabas sa Senate Committee on Women because we are still to hold the hearing tomorrow,” she said.

She also urged the public not to get ahead of the process, following what she described as fake news over the weekend.

“So wag pangunahan nung mga nag fake news over the weekend. Dun po tayo sa totoo. Ang totoo ay may mga batang napatay, may mga magulang na naulila sa anak, may marami pang bata na sugatan at malalim ang trauma,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros said the hearing will include a broad range of stakeholders, including the parents of the victims, the aunt of one of the shooters, who was said to be a PNP personnel and owner of the gun allegedly obtained by one of the minors, the Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Globe, Smart, the Game Developers Association of the Philippines, PNP Tacloban, and other groups.

She said the issue goes beyond one game, noting that it involves parental control, gun access, online safety, and other factors affecting children.

Hontiveros also said the Department of Justice had noted that the case bears the markings of the possible influence of NVE, or nihilistic violent extremism, which prompted the committee to invite stakeholders involved in the matter.

“In such a situation, when the DOJ also said that this case bears the markings of the possible influence of NVE, yung Nihilistic Violent Extremism, of course, our committee would call all the stakeholders involved,” she said.

The senator added that she wanted the developer of GoreBox to attend the hearing, saying malign actors may enter online games, target young players, befriend them, and lure them into other online spaces such as Messenger, where they may be groomed toward violence.

“So, I would have wanted the Gorebox developer to be there, but if he’s still not going to participate tomorrow, marami po tayong matututunan dun sa ibang mga stakeholders about how to make games and how to make our whole society safer for our children, both online and of course offline, pati sa ating mga eskwelahan,” Hontiveros said.

The clarification comes as public debate continues over the role of online games, digital platforms, parental guidance, and offline factors in protecting children after the recent Tacloban school shooting incident.