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Thursday, September 15, 2005
Fraternities eyed as criminals
CEBU CITY -- Warring fraternities Alpha Kappa Rho (Akrho) and Tau Gamma Phi may be declared criminal groups, as Acting Cebu Provincial Police Director Vicente Loot ordered all police station chiefs in the province to compile all incidents involving the two groups.
Loot was alarmed over the rising fraternity-related cases in the province.
In a press conference Wednesday, Loot said he will use the number of incidents as basis to recommend before the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 and the Regional Peace and Order Council to declare the rival fraternities as criminal groups.
He said the essence of a fraternity is brotherhood and engaging in socio-civic activities and "not in killing each other (because) only criminals do this."
Loot was prompted to consider the plan after meeting with his chiefs of police and was told that the common problem confronting their respective police stations is the rising number of fraternity-related incidents.
"I've met my men to ask for a list of organized crime groups possibly operating in their respective areas. They said there was none. Instead, the common problems identified in some areas, especially near the city, are frat wars. The names of Tau Gamma and Akrho were always mentioned," Loot told reporters Wednesday.
Sun.Star Cebu tried but failed to get the side of both fraternities.
In an effort to put a stop to the problem, Loot said he had "instructed all chiefs of police to compile all atrocities, acts of violence committed (by the two fraternities) so that I can use it as a basis to convene members of the intelligence community and perhaps recommend to declare these two groups as criminal groups, criminal gangs rather than an organizations."
The areas in the province where fraternity-related cases usually occur are in Carmen town and in Metro Cebu, particularly in Danao City.
Loot said there is a "resurgence of fraternities" in several areas in the province and this would not only give problems to the police but to the local officials as well.
"The recruitment has reached a point that even criminals are being recruited. If they give us problems, we will deal with them accordingly," he said.
Loot said the leaders of both fraternities cannot wash their hands of the alleged violence committed by their members because they have the responsibility to look after their members.
Just as in the Philippine National Police organization, Loot said leaders are bound by the principle of command responsibility.
Under this principle, Loot said, a leader is also responsible for a misdemeanor committed by one of his men.
Loot's opinion contradicted Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña's, who advised the police to run after the individual members who committed crimes, and not the group.
Osmeña made the statement after Superintendent Cecil Ezra Sandalo, then chief of the Cebu City Police Office, planned to declare the rival fraternities as "menace to society" because of the strings of violent incidents allegedly perpetrated by Akrho and Tau Gamma.
In 2003, leaders of the two fraternities signed a peace covenant in the presence of the mayor, but it did not hold long, since shortly after, they engaged in shooting and stabbing rival members.
An Akrho member, identified as Aristotle Aves, has been considered one of the top 10 most wanted persons in Cebu City because of the more than 10 murder cases he allegedly committed.
During the stint of General Avelino Razon as Central Visayas police director, efforts were also taken to put a stop to the rivalry, even to the extent of both fraternities signing a memorandum of agreement.
The agreement also did not last long. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(September 15, 2005 issue)
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