UP dean, student council demand sanctions over frat rumble

Student-led Anti-Fraternity Related Violence Watch (SAWA) Head Jackie Canlas (L) assists UP CSSP Student Council Chair Yanna Perez (R) in the filing of a case against Alpha Phi Beta and Beta Sigma in the UP Student Disciplinary Tribunal after a rumble between the two fraternities last week.

QUEZON CITY, Philippines – After a violent altercation last week between fraternities that left several students injured, a college dean and student council from the University of the Philippines Diliman are demanding an end to fraternity-related violence through administrative sanctions.

UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Dean Michael Tan and Student Council Chair Yanna Perez filed on Wednesday a complaint against fraternities Alpha Phi Beta and Beta Sigma over a rumble between the two fraternities last September 18.

The complaint accused Raymund Cruz Lopez, Marcus Cabrera, Don Ballustre, Mark Gabriel De Jesus, Bryan Joseph Costales, Miguel Barreto, and several other members of the fraternities “of engaging in a fraternity rumble, as defined in Section 1(A)(1), Rule I, Revised Rules Governing Fraternities, Sororities, and other Student Organizations.”

Last year, the college filed a similar complaint against Alpha Phi Beta and Alpha Sigma, but the Diliman Legal Office which serves as the prosecutor in cases of fraternity violence has yet to forward the case to the Student Disciplinary Tribunal. “It is a frustrating fact that well-connected fraternities in UP are never punished for rumbles and hazing,” Perez said.

According to Perez, the unwritten policy of UP’s administration is to back off once fraternities figuring in a rumble have reached a “truce.” Because of this “truce policy,” fraternities have never been punished administratively in UP, Perez said. Rumbles, under UP’s rules, are punishable by suspension to expulsion.

The Student-led Anti-Fraternity Related Violence Watch (SAWA), composed of students from the UP College of Law, provided legal assistance in the filing of the complaint. The organization’s head, Jackie Canlas, explained that after the filing of the complaint, a preliminary inquiry should be conducted by the Diliman Legal Office.

“The solution to ending the culture of violence among fraternities in UP is to set an example. The university must dispense justice by punishing violent fraternities with suspension or expulsion,” Canlas said.

Fraternities in UP were formed during the university’s early decades in the 1900s. Since then, several students have been victims to hazing and rumbles. Cris Mendez was the most recent case of a student dying from fraternity-related violence. The Mendez case remains unresolved.

“Impunity in the country starts with the youth. When fraternity members think they are somehow above the law because of their connections, one can only imagine what they will be capable of once they graduate and become the country’s next leaders,” Canlas added.

NO to Impunity: On the APB-Beta Sigma rumble (Sept 18, 2013)

No one is above the law. And no truce between criminals can be allowed to circumvent justice.

In the afternoon of September 18, 2013, while the University Student Council and different organizations were protesting at the AS Steps the impending P1.43B budget cut on UP, an incident of fraternity-related violence erupted in campus that left at least six frat men injured and several students and other bystanders emotionally distressed and fearing for their own safety.

According to reports, the violent altercation between members of Alpha Phi Beta and Beta Sigma happened just meters away from the USC event, at the latter's tambayan in Benton Hall. Witnesses claim that the rumble started when at least five members of APB proceeded to Beta Sigma's tambayan to allegedly "resolve" an earlier disagreement between the two frats. The supposed discussion however turned into a violent exchange of fists and blows. Officers from the UP Diliman Police (UPDP) eventually came to the scene upon receiving a report from a nearby security guard. The rumble stopped and the UPDP arrested the frat men involved, including those who were reportedly attempting to escape in a red Suzuki Alto.

Thereafter, six of the frat men involved were brought to the UPDP headquarters where they were detained for several hours. Three representatives from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) were also present in the UPDP HQ. Eventually, Atty. Viktor Pablo Trinidad, a lawyer for the detained frat men, arrived and declared to the UPDP and OVCSA representatives that they will not file charges and will resolve the matter on their own. The six frat men, named Raymund Cruz Lopez, Marcuz Cabrera, Don Ballustre, Mark Gabirel De Jesus, Bryan Joseph Costales, and Miguel Angelito Barreto, were released by 10:00PM of the same day (Sept 18). At least two of the detained, Costales and Barreto, are identifiable members of APB who ran for student council positions in the past.

Two days later or on September 20, Friday, the two fraternities have reportedly entered into a truce, the Greek-letter community's term for the ceasing of hostilities in the middle of a frat war. On the same day, the USC was scheduled to hold a General Assembly on the matter but failed to reach a quorum. Deliberation was thus rescheduled to Monday, September 23.

Ever since our foundation in 2000, UP ALYANSA has been committed to the complete elimination of fraternity-related violence in the University. Rumbles and hazing have no place in an institution of higher learning funded by the people's blood and sweat. It is a disturbing irony that, as UP demands for a higher budget for 2014, students who are invested with the people's money, instead of pursuing academic excellence in their respective fields, hit one another in the name of "brotherhood." There is little difference between the values of violent frat men and corrupt politicians running the country: Appearing as "leaders," they really have nothing more than their own "family interests" to protect. And, using their massive influence and hidden networks in the system, they simply manage to get away with it.

Candles have been lit and handprints marked, yet the culture of violence and impunity among the University's fraternities, a culture that dates all the way back to the early decades of UP, persist. We assert that the solution is simple, obvious, and direct, and should not be any different from the solution to the larger culture of corruption and impunity in our country: Exact justice. Fraternity-related violence must be policed, prosecuted, and punished. An example must be made to deter the perpetration of violence and to show fraternities that no one, absolutely no one, is above the law.

Truces are not enough. Violence cannot be tolerated simply because its perpetrators have entered into an agreement to suppress the issue. There can be no valid agreement between criminals that a crime has not happened. The truce policy, whereby fraternities escape the mandated judicial process under the Rules and Regulations Governing Fraternities, Sororities, and Other Student Organizations* after a truce has been reached between the hostile frats, must be abolished and justice must be served not only for retribution but also for the deterrence of future incidents of violence.

We call on the University administration, long inutile on the incidents of fraternity-related violence in UP, to finally begin the process of holding the guilty accountable.The administration must not let this incident, like all other incidents in the past, simply pass. Indeed, it is an insult to the University's tradition of demanding accountability in governance when its own administration willfully and voluntarily assists in the failure of justice. In doing so, the administration becomes no better than accessories to fraternity-related violence, having abused its public functions to conceal and assist in the escape of principals to the crime.

We also call on the USC, officers of which include members from both Alpha Phi Beta (Vice Chairperson Jules Guiang) and Beta Sigma (Fine Arts Representative Baloy de Laza), to make a concrete effort in demanding justice from this incident of fraternity-related violence. On its own, the USC must file charges against the erring fraternities and lead the students in the campaign to demand a swift disposition of this case by the Student Disciplinary Tribunal. Indeed, the USC is challenged to stand for our right as students to a safe and secure campus and not the interests of violent fraternities.

Finally, we call on every Iskolar ng Bayan to join us as we gather on Wednesday, September 25, 4:00PM, at the AS Steps to collectively condemn this and previous incidents of fraternity-related violence in UP.



Iskolar para sa Bayan, pagtagumpayan ang isang Unibersidad na mapayapa at walang karahasan!

SAWANG SAWA na kami sa fraternity-related violence!

NO to impunity! End the culture of violence in UP!