Call for "all-out war" against frat abuses

In a way, the NPAs against whom the government has, only in words so far, waged an all-out war, are much easier pill to take as regards their lawlessness, than the supposedly law-abiding, but really, the bestial brats in the guise of fratmen.

How many times has the public been beguiled by false assurances that the Akrho and Tau Gamma leaders have inked an end to violence between their members? So, their smoking the proverbial peace pipe before the provincial peace authorities, sealed by shaking hands across the table - complete with media photo ops - is all idiotic tribal triviality?

Long before the province took up the cudgels for possible putting finis to the frat wars, the Cebu City police then, had tried at mediating the Akrho and Tau Gamma feud in the spate of fatal incidents involving them. Nothing came about in spite of the now-abused vows of their leaders to police their ranks.

The public doesn't give a damn if the fratmen deplete their combative ranks - even faster than the almost daily massacres of the Shiites and the Sunnis against one another in Iraq - by waging a battle of attrition weekly, or even daily. Just let them do their killing spree in places and in occasions where there be no "collateral damage" to non-members.

The painful reality is that these pseudo-fratmen often show their narcissistic wares to reflesh their already emaciated ego in places where people congregate in festive celebration. Thus, during town or barrio fiestas, especially when egregiously pedestrian discos are at their height, the sound system is often abruptly muted, nay, silenced by fratmen's guns blasting one another. Almost always, aside from targeted rival gangs, bystanders become poor victims. Besides accidental damage to the unsuspecting public, other victims are those under mistaken identities, i.e., erroneously targeted as foes when they are not... The latest victims were a young man of Tribunal, and a younger teener in Looc, both in Mandaue, obviously under mistaken identity. What is sardonically diabolical about this killing spree is its dangerous habituality, not just exceptional occurrence, as borne out in almost all frat shootings in the past.

Sometime after mid-19th century, student fraternities and sororities used to be exclusive domain of prestigious schools in USA, popularized by the classical sounding Greek alphabet. Greek letter and panhellenic societies were organized depending on academic goals, such as, the fields of law, medicine, engineering, science, education, etc., with uniquely sub-rosa formalities in rituals and initiations for exclusive membership. Their exclusivity gave rise to criticisms for snobbishness. But, their exercises were often scholarly or intellectual pastimes, such as, inter-fraternal debates, oratory, drama, or literary jousts in writing.

Copycats that Filipinos are, early prestigious universities and colleges in Manila also followed suit in forming collegiate fraternities and sororities. Overall, even now there are those blue chip fraternal societies whose main plus side is their pledged camaraderie and loyalty in helping one another. The negative side is their blind loyalty that runs, in effect, whether right or wrong, a member is always right. As in the knights of the round table fealty of always being "shoulder to shoulder", no matter what or how.

Unfortunately, in the empty pretensions to aspire for pseudo social status, the Akrho and the Tau Gamma clones are not selective or discriminating in membership. Not only are there non-collegiate in EQ in their rosters, but also littered with drop-outs, high school students and also drop-outs and, worse, it's being bruited to recruit even young elementary pupils.

While the benefit of the doubt may be lent to the leaders of Akrho and Tau Gamma in striking a peaceful resolution to their feud, nonetheless, it is now very clear that they are losing control to discipline and police their own ranks. And so, these Akrho and Tau Gamma leaders themselves, should be the ones to call an all-out war against their erring and abusive members.

The other day's fatal stabbing of a woman who demanded "fleshly" dues in advance, by an admitted member of Akrho who wanted it for free, somewhere in Mandaue's reclamation area, is a typical tragic case in point.

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