Monday, August 06, 2007 Nalzaro: Nonsensical gang war By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
THE endless war between two rival groups, the Alpha Kappa Rho(Akrho) and Tau Gamma Phi has claimed another innocent life.
The latest fatality of this nonsensical gang-related killing was a native of Alcantara and a member of the town’s dance contingent that participated in the “festival of festivals” held in Mandaue City the other day.
Alberto Ano, 20, was walking with his girlfriend Edesa Feselda outside the Mandaue Central School where the contingent was billeted to look for food when an unidentified gunman shot at them without any provocation. Ando died on the spot while Feselda was wounded. The gunman also shot at a companion of Ando, Rolly Manahan, but missed.
Feselda said she was certain that the gunman was a member of Tau Gamma. She admitted that she is a member of the rival Akrho gang but has been inactive. The police have yet to establish the identity of the gunman and the motive of the shooting. But investigators believed that this is another gang-related incident.
The suspect might have identified Feselda as a member of Akrho and he might have assumed her companions were also part of the gang so he fired at them. Ando was just one of the many innocent victims of the ongoing conflict between these two warring gangs.
Good if only their members, especially those directly involved in the street fight or rumble, get killed. We can say “good” for them. But what is lamentable is that innocent people are getting caught in the crossfire.
The conflict between these two groups has shattered the good image and standing of fraternities, both in and outside the campus. The conflict also between the Crips and Bloods gang has aggravated the situation because both groups are using the two gangs as their frontliners in their street wars and utilize them as their hitmen. I understand Crips has sided with Akrho, while Bloods is with Tau Gamma.
Handling the conflict and neutralizing the groups’ criminal activities have been the headache of police. Their conflict is no longer contained here in the urban setting, but has also spread in the provinces, where these groups have chapters. In fact, police want to declare Akrho and Tau Gamma as criminal groups.
Well, I will not subscribe to that because it is also unfair to those members with good and reputable records in the campus and in the community. There are members of these groups, who are professionals.
What will it take to solve the conflict? There have been several dialogues and signing of peace covenants by leaders and elders of both groups, which were initiated by our local officials and the police. But it seems these efforts have proven to be futile. Why? Because only the leaders signed the peace covenant and they cannot control their members, who are directly involved in the skirmishes.
The leaders or the organization in general cannot just simply impose disciplinary action by expelling these erring members from the group because they are already identified with the group. And even when a member is dismissed, other chapters still recognize him as a “brother.”
He bears the scar of the group’s insignia, and he knows all its secrets, including the password of the organization. The tendency is that a dismissed member will organize his own group that still carries the name of the organization.
Since the criminal activity of Akrho and Tau Gamma is purely a police matter, then I would like to call on authorities to go after those directly involved in the street fights, like the killer of Ando. Maybe our barangay leaders and local officials can also initiate dialogues with known members of these groups in their respective community and remind them of their social responsibilities.
I am also encouraging parents of members of these organizations to constantly remind their children not to involve themselves in criminal activities. Maybe through this initial step and efforts in our home and community, we can help solve this conflict.
