'San Beda fratmen growled like lions'

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Lex Leonum fraternity were reportedly growling like lions when they held a meeting inside the Salt and Spirit Bar and Grill in Las Piñas City hours before the hazing incident in Cavite that resulted in the death of San Beda College law school freshman Marc Andrei Marcos.

A witness who was identified only as Shy told The STAR yesterday that a group of young men made a reservation at the Salt and Spirit Bar along Rose Avenue in Pilar Village, Las Piñas, at 10 p.m. last Saturday, and held a closed door meeting until past midnight.

She said there were more or less 40 people in the group of Marcos and fratman Gian Angelo Veluz at the bar and grill.

“Maingay sila, paminsan minsan sumisigaw sila ng ‘Growl! Growl!’ (They were noisy occasionally they chanted growl, growl).” said the witness who works at a restaurant adjacent to the Salt and Spirit Bar.

San Beda College’s teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) are called the Red Lions.

Shy is among the witnesses cooperating with the police in identifying fraternity members who were with the group Saturday night.

She recalled that 13 members of the group including Veluz even posed for a souvenir photograph before leaving the place.

She said that was the first time that she heard such eerie chants since she worked in the restaurant.

Shy said that after midnight the group transferred to the nearby Rikiki Bar and Grill, where she saw Marcos drinking beer and smiling. The group stayed until around 3 a.m.

“He (Marcos) was smiling when I saw him at a table,” she said.

She said that she saw a man whom she later identified as Veluz who ordered buttered chicken, pork liempo, and light beer.

The close circuit television camera of the Rikiki Bar and Grill captured the image of Veluz sitting at a table with four companions.

Las Piñas City Police chief Senior Superintendent Romulo Sapitula said they will be coordinating with Dasmariñas police to gather more evidence and interview witnesses at the Las Piñas restaurants.

Marcos died last Monday from injuries he suffered during a hazing incident the day before in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

He was declared dead on arrival at the De La Salle University Medical Center (DLSUMC) in Dasmariñas, reportedly after undergoing initiation rites of Lex Leonum in a nearby farm.

Police said Marcos died of multiple injuries at the DLSUMC after three men and two women, who were identified as Soledad Sanda and Marlen Guadayo, left the victim at the hospital.

The three men immediately left.

Senior Superintendent John Bulalacao, Cavite police director, said Marcos was described to be “badly wounded” when taken to hospital.

He said investigation revealed that the victim was allegedly severely beaten by unidentified suspects in a farm in Sitio Bisaya, Lt. Cantimbuhan St. Barangay Zone 3 in Dasmariñas.

Bulalacao added that investigation revealed that Soledad received a text message from a certain Gean, saying he had reported the incident to the police.

Further investigation showed that Gean turned out to be Veluz, 27, a 4th year student of San Beda College Alabang and a resident of Lt. Cantimbuhan St.

Allegedly, Soledad Sanda and Marlen Guadayo are cooks of the Veluz family at their farm.

Senior Superintendent Bernabe Balba, regional director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 4A, said charges of violation of the anti-hazing law or Republic Act 8049 were filed before the Dasmariñas prosecutor’s office against Sanda, Guadayo and Veluz.

He said Soledad and Guadayo have disappeared and the police have launched a manhunt for the suspects.

Balba said investigators have already identified several members of the fraternity who participated in the initiation rites.

Balba clarified that nobody has yet been arrested.

He said hospital security guards have identified Veluz as one of the men who brought Marcos to the hospital.

Balba said the victim, along with other neophytes and top-ranking officers of Lex Leonum, arrived at the Veluz farm on Saturday for the initiation rites.

Chief Inspector Marlon Santos, of the Cavite police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said Veluz’s father Angelito gave assurance that he will fully cooperate with the police and surrender his son, who went into hiding after the incident.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering placing the suspects on the Bureau of Immigration watchlist to prevent them from leaving the country.

Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III said he would sign the lookout bulletin order (LBO) against suspects that have pending criminal charges.

An LBO would not prevent the suspects from leaving the country, unlike a hold departure order issued by a court.

“We are just waiting for a formal request from the family (of Marcos),” he told reporters yesterday.

Baraan said he also expects the National Bureau of Investigation to submit to him today an initial report on the Marcos case.

Authorities were also considering filing charges against Veluz’s father Angelito.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome is optimistic that more evidence would be gathered to bolster the charges against the suspects.

Bartolome and other police officials went yesterday to the wake of Marcos in Ramos, Tarlac to extend sympathy and said the police are gathering more evidence which could help them strengthen the case against the suspects.

He said investigators have already gathered information about the names of the fraternity members, but he refused to disclose them pending further investigation and verification.

CHED alarmed over SBC casualties

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) expressed alarm over the second casualty of hazing by members of another San Beda College (SBC) fraternity, and has urged school officials to explain what action was taken against another fraternity that was previously involved in the hazing incident that resulted in the death of student Marvin Reglos last February.

Reglos, 25, was allegedly killed in hazing rites of the Lambda Rho Beta fraternity.

Two suspects were arrested on the same night Reglos was rushed to the Unciano Medical Center in Antipolo, Rizal.

Alleged fraternity members Erick Edrosolano Castillo, 28, and Bodjie Amorin Yap, 24, were arrested after they went back to the hospital, supposedly to check on Reglos’ condition.

Like Marcos, Reglos also sustained severe bruises on several parts of his body.

Authorities have filed murder and hazing charges against the two suspects in the Reglos killing but the victim’s relatives have complained that nothing substantial has come out of the investigation so far.

Patricia Licuanan, CHED chair, condemned “in the strongest terms” the death of Marcos.

“With this second incident involving student Marcos, the College was reminded of its heavy responsibilities and duties under RA 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law,” Licuanan said in a statement.

“Such acts of violence and injury run counter to the basic values and fundamental principles for which HEIs (higher education institutions) are established,” Licuanan said.

Licuanan said CHED calls on SBC officials and the officers and members of the concerned fraternities to undertake with utmost urgency all proper and necessary measures to ferret out the truth.

CHED earlier issued a directive to all private and public HEIs, reiterating their strict compliance with the provisions of RA 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law and the immediate submission of a certified list of fraternities and sororities existing in their institutions.

SBC had responded to CHED by saying that it does not recognize fraternities, sororities or similar organizations.

Since they are not recognized, SBC said that it could not submit to CHED a “certified list of officers and members of such organizations.”

Other schools have been submitting the required lists, Licuanan said.

Administration lawmakers urged CHED to enforce a strict “no-hazing policy” in universities and colleges.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo and Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco said CHED should help prevent future deaths caused by fraternity hazing. – With Edu Punay, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rainier Allan Ronda, Ed Amoroso, Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez