Monday, June 04, 2007 Frat men have yet to submit rosters
TO check on the progress of a covenant signing between leaders of rival fraternities, Acting Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Carmelo Valmoria plans to meet with them again.
“I want to check on their efforts after the signing to see if they were able to meet with their chapter leaders,” Valmoria said.
The last time fraternity leaders met was in October last year wherein leaders of Alpha Kappa Rho and Tau Gamma Phi visited the office of then CPPO director Vicente Loot.
The leaders claimed they were “now brothers.”
They also vowed to submit names of their chapter leaders so that if there are cases involving their members in the towns, they can be invited by police to help solve the case.
Until now, Valmoria said he is yet to see a list of chapter leaders and their members.
He would have wanted to give a copy to his police chiefs so they will know whom to contact if a fraternity-related incident occurs in their area.
Run after
“But it does not mean we will not run after the members who violate the law,” he told reporters.
Valmoria said he also wants to make “an assessment” of their efforts at reconciliation.
However, he acknowledged that after that meeting, there was an apparent decline in fraternity-related violence.
He added that he has coordinated with Loot to get the background of their earlier plans.
It was Loot who first wanted to classify the two fraternities under criminal groups after noting the number of violent incidents traced to their members.
This prompted leaders to seek a dialogue with him and draft their own “Declaration of Cooperation and Unity.”
Shot dead
Last Tuesday, a motorcycle driver was shot dead after an Akrho member shot a Tau Gamma member in Poblacion, Liloan, Cebu.
Police believe Akrho member Archie Mosqueda was trying to take away driver Celso Valderrama’s motorcycle as a getaway vehicle but the latter refused.
Mosqueda was shot in the leg by responding policemen from the Liloan Police Station, who were in the area to serve an arrest warrant. (MEA)
