Rival gangs fight in department store

Ironic and funny -this holds true for this story about five members of warring gangs Bloods and Crips who engaged in a fistfight inside a downtown department Saturday afternoon without any apparent reason.

Police said it was mere random violence, but the lighter side of the story was that the five - three of them minors- were detained in the same stockade at the Waterfront police station where they eventually made up and became friends.

That is because their primary concern now is how to settle the damage to property they incurred during their fistfight that amounted to more or less P1,000 since the department management is bent on filing a case of malicious mischief against them today.

Initial investigation revealed that at about 5:20 p.m. last Saturday, four members of a gang came across a member of a rival gang at the houseware department of the said store.

According to Waterfront police desk officer on duty Ernesto Caballero they got into a fight without any apparent reason, they were eventually arrested by house detectives Michael Larbo and Jaime Sumalinog.

But the commotion left some kitchen utensils broken so that the management cited them for malicious mischief that eventually merited their detention.

Those arrested were Christopher Shene Cari-cari, 18, and three minors, who belonged to the Bloods gang, while Allioden Punquina, 18, who is a member of Crips was also detained with them.

"Paregla ra kuno walay hinungdan suya-suya ra maong nagsumbagay sila. Karon amigo na sila kay kauban ra man silag prisohan. Ang ila karong problema unsaon pagbayad ang damage kay mokiha ra ba gyud ang tindahan (They are now friends because they shared the same cell. Their main concern now is how to pay for the damage because the store will sue)," Caballero said.

Punquina, a high school sophomore, sustained bruises in the right arm due to the fistfight. He has been a member of Crips for three years now.

The Bloods, on the other hand, said they just joined the group a few months ago, claiming that they are into it because of their love for dancing.

While police have yet to confirm rumors that these gangs are actually extended groups of warring fraternities, reports revealed that Bloods and Crips originated in Los Angeles, California, sometime in 1971.

Americans Stanley "Tookie" Williams and Raymond Washington founded Crips after they were both fed up with the random violence in their neighborhood.

It became popular all over southern Los Angeles and eventually more youth gangs joined it eventually affecting the membership of smaller street groups.

This was what prompted the formation of Bloods -an alliance of smaller gangs reportedly killed by members of Crips and that paved the way for the rivalry between two groups.

These two groups expanded membership internationally and their arrival in the Philippines reportedly came after Filipino-American members went back to the country years ago.

Using the color blue to identify themselves, there is no exact explanation how the Crips got their name although some believed that it stemmed from an attack against an Asian woman before.

The attackers reportedly belongs to Crips and one of its members had physical disability and the woman, instead of saying "crippled" to identify one of the perpetrators, only managed to utter "a crip."

The Bloods got their name from the red bandana they usually wear to identify themselves. - Ryan P. Borinaga