Gunslay mars Akrho romp around city

The boisterous romp of the controversial Alpha Kappa Rho or Akrho fraternity around the city in celebration of its anniversary yesterday ended in yet another tragedy when a frat member was gunned down at the corner of Sanciangko and Panganiban streets.

His companion, a teenaged frat member, was also shot but he survived the attack by a lone gunman.

Police refused to say who the attacker was.

The slain frat member was identified only as a certain Glen, of Balamban, while his injured teenaged companion is from Tuburan. They are members of the Akrho chapters in their towns and came to the city to join the anniversary celebration.

Richard Buscayno, the regional president of Akrho, said it was the group's 33rd anniversary. That places the group's founding in 1973, at the height of martial law, when then dictator Ferdinand Marcos cracked down on fraternities.

Like the police, Buscayno refused to name any suspects in the attack.

Witnesses at the scene said Glen and his companion had just alighted from a jeepney from which they had been clinging to when the gunman came up to them and fired away.

The same witnesses said the two had been very loud and unruly while on the jeep.

Police recovered a stick of marijuana and P150 from the pocket of Glen. Balamban, where he hails from, is notorious for its clandestine marijuana plantations. From his teenaged companion from Tuburan, police recovered a knife.

Both of them bore on their right wrists identical circular burn scars that are the identifying marks of Akrho members.

The Akrho has grown notorious over its seeming war of attrition with the rival Tau Gamma Phi fraternity. A long series of violent incidents involving both fraternities has resulted in the deaths of dozens of members from either side.

Repeated attempts by authorities to strike a truce have proven futile, apparently because both fraternities have evolved from being strictly school-based groups to almost nothing more than ordinary neighborhood gangs that are difficult to monitor.

Scores of Akrho members went around the city to celebrate their anniversary yesterday in a motorcade consisting of private vehicles and rented jeepneys. Many of the frat members were on the roofs of the jeepneys and they were screaming as they wound their way through the metropolis. Some were exploding firecrackers as they went.

Cebu City police chief Melvin Gayotin said the jeepney drivers who allowed the Akrho members to ride on the roofs of their vehicles were arrested.

Gayotin said Vice Mayor Michael Rama called his attention to the unruly behavior of the motorcade participants as they went through the city.

The two frat members who were attacked reportedly failed to catch the motorcade and were on their way to the south bus terminal to catch a ride home when attacked.

SPO3 Alex Dacua of the police homicide section said the gunman was about 20 to 25 years old.