UP suspends Alpha Phi Beta, Sigma Rho officers

The University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman yesterday ordered the preventive suspension of all officers of the Alpha Phi Beta and Sigma Rho fraternities following the brutal killing of engineering student Daniel Reyes in a campus fraternity brawl Thursday night.

"Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Ma. Theresa Jimenez of the University of the Philippine Diliman issued an order of preventive suspension against the officers of the Alpha Phi Beta and Sigma Rho fraternities involved in a violent incident in campus (Thursday) night," UP Chancellor Emerlina Roman said in a statement faxed to newsrooms last night.

"This action will help forestall any further incidents between the two fraternities. In the meantime, the UP Diliman Police has been ordered to speed up its investigation and to take all measures to maintain peace and order in the campus," the statement added.

Roman said the "summary action" is authorized under the university's rules and regulations.

As of yesterday, the UP police could not give details on how the incident happened or what triggered brawl between the Alpha Phi Beta and Sigma Rho fraternities near the UP Law Center complex along Ramon Magsaysay Avenue. Reyes, a third year collage student, was a member of the Alpha Phi Beta fraternity.

UP Police area supervisor and officer-in-charge Leo Agarao admitted that his investigators have yet to put together the details of the incident.

But Agarao said it would be easy for his investigators to identify the persons involved in the brawl since it involved mostly UP students. "We could easily track them since we know and are familiar with the members of these groups. We can easily go to the registrar's office but we have no identities of those involved yet," he explained.

Agarao added that the teams consisting of investigators from the UP Police, the Anonas Police Station, the Criminal Investigation Division as well as the UP police liaison office have not yet consolidated their reports.

The brawl between the two fraternities reportedly caught both the UP police and the university officials by surprise. "We were really surprised since there have been not violence that happened since the groups signed a peace covenant," Agarao said.

The UP police and officials were reportedly trying to mediate a conflict involving members of two other fraternities -- the Tao Alpha and the Beta Epsilon, both based at the College of Law -- when the incident occurred.