Slain fratman’s family appeals case vs suspects

The family of slain Alpha Phi Beta (APB) fraternity man Den Daniel Reyes has asked the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office to reconsider its resolution downgrading to homicide the murder charge against three suspects who are members of the rival Sigma Rho fraternity.

In their nine-page motion, the Reyes family said city prosecutors have arrived at a "deficient and fatally flawed conclusion" that the suspects, UP Law student Fulgencio "Bibit" Factoran III, son of former Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr., and his fraternity brothers, UP students Gil Taway IV and Marcelino Rongo, could only be charged with homicide.
The case has been raffled off to the sala of Quezon City Judge Estrella Estrada. Two APB men, Keven Camagay and Vincent Jimenez, have identified the three suspects as among the five men who attacked their fraternity brother at around 8 p.m. last Feb. 10 in front of the UP Law Center.

The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, however, raised doubts about the credibility of the APB’s witnesses, saying they did not explain why it took them a long time to present their account of the incident and their fraternity brother’s dying declaration, despite the intense media coverage the case generated.

The prosecutors agreed with the Sigma Rho’s contention that even the invitation by the Central Police District (CPD) to the victim’s family went unanswered for longer than three weeks. According to the three, they were the ones who were attacked by armed men who wore hoods, while they were walking back to the UP College of law after visiting the Ipil Residence Hall.

"The most serious question that has been raised was the fact that when witness Vincent Jimenez was asked by the guard on duty at the East Avenue Medical Center as to the identity of the assailants," noted the prosecutors in their resolution, "he replied that the suspects were unidentified." – Romel Bagares