Wanted fratmen taunt Tom O

Instead of worrying that their capture could soon happen with the rewards offered by the city, two of the ten fraternity members wanted for various offenses, seem to have taunted Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Mayor Osmeña has announced the allocation of P600,000 as reward money for people who will provide information that would lead to the arrest of the wanted fratmen. However, instead of getting surrender feelers, the mayor and a police official received text messages allegedly from two of the wanted men saying that they will not give up.

Osmeña said that Warren Entera of Tau Gamma sent him messages the other day complaining why he was included in the list of fugitives when, in fact, he already served time for his offenses at the city jail.

The mayor advises Entera to show up and surrender to the authorities for him to clear his name. Cebu City Police Office Vice Control Section chief George Ylanan said that they received text messages from Alpha Kappa Rho member Aristotle Aves, alias Ares.

The text message that was received by Ylanan read: "Lets (sic) see who will take the glory. Keep up the good work."

A bounty of P150,000 awaits the person, who can provide information for the arrest of Aves. This is the biggest among the ten that have been listed. For Entera's arrest, P50,000 will be given as reward. Information that would lead to the arrest of Erikson Pastorfide and Glenn Codiñera will be worth P100,000 each while that for Dino Aresgado, Glenn Marson and Johnberg Balona are pegged at P50,000 each. Last Tuesday night, Santos de la Cruz was first to fall. A police team arrested him at his safehouse in barangay Quiot.

Osmeña lauded the police tipsters that lead to the arrest of dela Cruz. He also lauded the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) for acting on the tip immediately leading to the arrest.

The mayor is encouraging the police to run after the erring members of the fraternities and not their organizations.

Councilor Augustus "Jun" Pe said the city would allocate at least P1.2 million from the annual budget for rewards this year.

But aside from the 10 fraternity members, who have arrest warrants, at least 33 individuals, who belong to different gangs and fraternities like Crips, Bloods, Tau Gamma and Akhro, are also facing cases which are still pending in court.

In 2003, leaders of the two fraternities signed a peace covenant in the presence of the mayor. Both parties agreed to undertake actions to police their ranks. It was agreed that members deliberately violating the peace agreement shall in no way receive support from the fraternity.

The agreement however did not last long enough as several shooting and stabbing incidents were reported to have happened allegedly involving members of the rival groups. - Garry B. Lao