UP president: No protection for fraternity brother culpable in #LonsiLeaks

MANILA, Philippines — University of the Philippines president and Upsilon Sigma Phi member Danilo Concepcion on Friday denounced the leaked conversations linked to his fraternity and vowed thorough investigation into the matter.

On Wednesday, screenshots of a supposed long-running chat among Upsilon members circulated online. The conversations displayed apparent misogyny, sexism, racism, support to genocide and violence, among other topics.

In a statement, Concepcion said that as the university president, he assured that such display of misogyny “has no place in a university dedicated to the highest ideals and the practice of gender equality and human rights.”

READ: People insulted in the controversial #LonsiLeaks speak out

“That practice is best tested in our private utterances and actions, and the attitudes displayed in these published posts demonstrate how much more we need to do to reform medieval mindsets within the university at all levels,” Concepcion added.

The school official also addressed the matter as a member of the fraternity. "I will not protect any fraternity brother who may be found culpable of these kinds of offensive acts," Concepcion said.

He said that while the conversation being linked to his fraternity brought him pain, the magnitude could not compare to those maligned by the posts.

“They do not represent what we have stood for all these years, as they bring us back to the darkness rather than the light,” he added.

“I assure the University community that I will do all I can, both as President and as fellow of the fraternity to root out this problem and to instil or to reaffirm a culture of respect, tolerance and decency within Upsilon and our entire fraternity system,” Concepcion also said.

Upsilon, for its part, said that it is already looking into the matter and would relay their findings to the UP Office of the Vice Chancellor.

Abduction of engineering student

The leaked conversation, said to be among fraternity members, comes on the heels of a reported frat-related violence between Upsilon and the Alpha Phi Beta fraternity.

UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan, in a statement posted by The STAR, said that they are looking into the incident and urged the two fraternities to “take stronger and quick action to root out the scalawags in their ranks.”

The chancellor also noted the reported abduction of the student behind the Twitter account @iskolarspeaks and threats directed at the student’s girlfriend.

Twitter user @iskolarspeaks posted that he had a busted lip after the incident on Thursday night.

Tan, meanwhile, said that security will be tightened in hot spot areas. He also encouraged the victim to come forward.

“We continue to carry on the initiatives started last week, which is to get all the facts around the violence, including the physical encounters as well as the social media postings, leading to the filing of administrative charges,” the chancellor added. — Kristine Joy Patag with a report from Janvic Mateo