2 arrested for shooting outside UM campus

MANILA, Philippines - Two alleged members of the Tau Gamma Phi (TGP) fraternity were arrested Saturday in connection with a shooting outside the University of Manila (UM) campus in Sampaloc Friday night.

Hotel room attendant Harry Jones Guzman, 23, and UM criminology student Mark Andrew Perez, 23, were apprehended by police officers from the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 4, according to a report.

The report stated that the MPD Station 4 is hunting down Chester Matias and Gilbert Martin. All four men are alleged members of the Samahang Ilokano (SI) fraternity.

A police official, who requested anonymity, said the incident started when SI members hurled a stone at Jeffrey Ameril, also a criminology student, as he and other students were going out of the UM campus at around 6:30 p.m. Friday. Ameril was treated at the Ospital ng Maynila and discharged after a few hours.

The official said the TGP members chased Ameril’s attackers, Guzman reportedly among them, and cornered them in front of the UM campus’ main gate along Delos Santos street.

Guzman allegedly fired his gun and hit Juan Martin, a criminology student, in the left arm. The SI members fled in different directions after the shooting. Martin was rushed to the University of Santo Tomas Hospital.

The official said the members of the two fraternities from different schools in the University Belt are preparing themselves for riots that usually happen during school breaks.

“From experience, these are the times when frat wars explode because it is time to retaliate,” he said.