24/08/2026
A Statement of Sympathy, Solidarity, and Prayer
Couples For Christ Zamboanga City
As Couples for Christ Zamboanga, we join the Ateneo de Zamboanga University community, the affected families, and the entire Zamboanga community in prayer, sympathy, and solidarity during this deeply painful time.
No family, no school, and no community ever wish to experience such a tragedy. Our schools should be safe spaces where our young people can learn, grow, dream, and discover their purpose. More than securing our schools, however, we must continue to form our young people in our homes, in our schools, in our churches, and in our communities.
As CFC, we believe that strong families are the foundation of a peaceful society. The values of respect, compassion, self-control, forgiveness, and reverence for life are first nurtured at home. Through Couples for Christ and our family and youth ministries, especially Youth for Christ, we remain committed to accompanying and molding the young to become persons of faith, character, responsibility, and peace.
The formation of our youth is a shared mission. Parents, families, educators, churches, youth ministries, and communities all have a role to play. We must create spaces where our young people feel heard, valued, guided, and loved.
We cannot simply ask our youth to become good people; we must journey with them as they become good people. They need families who will guide them, schools that will form them, communities that will support them, and ministries that will accompany them. Every adult who chooses to listen to a young person, every parent who chooses to be present, every teacher who chooses to understand, and every ministry worker who chooses to accompany becomes part of building a safer generation.
WE ARE ONE in this mission. One in strengthening families. One in accompanying our youth. One in building schools and communities where every young person can feel safe and protected. One in choosing compassion and peace, especially in moments of grief.
At this time, we also appeal to everyone to exercise compassion and restraint in the use of social media. We respectfully ask the public to refrain from posting, sharing, circulating, or sensationalizing graphic images, videos, or other disturbing materials related to the incident. Behind every image is a person, a family, and a story deserving of dignity and respect.
May this painful moment remind us of our shared responsibility to strengthen our homes, form our youth, protect our schools, and build a culture of peace.
Our prayers are with the Ateneo community.
Our prayers are with the families who are grieving.
Our prayers are with the young people who are hurting and afraid.
Our prayers are for healing, peace, and hope.
May our homes be places where peace begins.
May our families be schools of love.
May our youth become bearers of hope.
And may we, as one community, choose compassion.
WE ARE ONE.
Families in the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth.
Couples for Christ Zamboanga
