State university decries campus crime stories

Officials of the state-run University of the Philippines (UP) decried yesterday a recent TV news story detailing a spate of crimes on the State university’s flagship campus in Diliman, saying the reported crimes "never took place."

Last Jan. 17, a prime time news program carried a report about an alleged holdup of an entire class in the UP College of Engineering, another holdup at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and unspecified rape incidents in the course of that week.

UP president Francisco Nemenzo expressed his concern over the concoction and circulation of such false stories, describing it as an insult to the intelligence of the academic community.

He, however, expressed dismay over some faculty and students believing and circulating the rumor through texting without any effort to verify.

"Ganyan na ba tayo kadaling maloko? The hoax inventor must be very pleased and he/she will probably do it again to spread panic," Nemenzo said. "I cannot understand why the TV station played up (the rumor) although the other persons interviewed said they never heard of it."

UP Diliman Chancellor Emerlinda Roman personally verified the reports but failed to gather any evidence to substantiate them. "I talked with the police and Dean (Edgardo) Atanacio of the College of Engineering and they have not heard of such things," she said. "He also interviewed the security guards. Wala naman daw nangyari."

Vice Chancellor for community affairs Gil Gotiangco Jr. II, in a memorandum addressed to the entire UP Diliman community, has formally declared the news story as false.

UP officials had earlier asked the police for a thorough investigation.

Capt. Ruben Villaluna, chief of the investigation and follow-up section of the UP Diliman Police, said it was possible that a rumor spread by a prankster triggered the story.

He found out that not one of the guards, students, and teachers in the College of Engineering could corroborate the reported holdup of an entire class.

"There is no way we could have missed it, if this indeed happened, because we always respond to calls, even those that are likely to be pranks or rumors," he added.

The most recent incident they have on record, he said, was a case of "salisi" robbery at the Faculty Center where the criminal was apprehended.

"Wala naman kaming nababalitaan na may nangyaring ganoon," said security guard Wilfredo Villamor, who is on patrol at the College of Engineering from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"Kung may nangyari talaga dapat kami ang unang makakaalam," he added. The news story also showed a number of places in the UP Diliman campus, such as the Lagoon area, where felonies are reportedly often committed. It also featured students voicing out their opinion about sex-related crimes in the campus.

UP police, however, admitted a break-in at the UP Integrated School over the Christmas holidays, where some P36,000 in cash and several thousands more in valuables were lost to yet unidentified suspects.

Regi Ponferrada, a member of the University Student Council and one of the students interviewed in the news story, said the news story as it appeared was "unfair" and "distorted." "We agreed to be interviewed because we thought they were going to feature the efforts being done to arrest sexual harassment cases in the campus," he said.

Ponferrada was then engaged in a campus-wide campaign with sororities to promote anti-sexual harassment awareness among students. "Unfortunately, out of the many things I said, only the latter part was shown."

Villaluna said robbery and theft are the usual crimes the UP police force contends with but homicide still remains a rarity and sex crimes infrequent.

Most reported cases, he added, take place in the community and non-academic periphery. He said though that UP has a reputation as a dumping ground of victims of crimes committed somewhere else. He explained that with UP Diliman open to vehicular and people traffic, security measures could only do so much.

Nemenzo also does not deny that UP shares security problems experienced by the rest of the metropolis.