Slain UPLB student's parents: Let him be the last victim

TANAY, Rizal ,Philippines  – As the parents of University of the Philippines Los Baños student Ray Bernard Peñaranda prepare to bury him today, they said they hope their son’s death would be the last.

“I hope this is the last. I wish that our son’s death would end the violence and other crimes perpetrated on the students of UPLB and other schools,” German Peñaranda told The STAR.

German and his wife, both agriculturists, will bury their 19-year-old son, a junior at the UPLB, at the Haven of Rest in nearby Baras town today. They said he wanted to be an agriculturist like them.

Ray Bernard was stabbed dead by motorcycle-riding men several meters away from UPLB’s main gate a week ago today. German expressed confidence that their son will get justice because all the suspects in his killing have been arrested.

“We fully trust the police on this,” he said, adding that he believes his son’s spirit helped investigators crack the case.

German appealed to all stakeholders – the police, school authorities, local government officials and owners of business establishments in Los Baños – to band together in fighting the increasing crime menace outside the UPLB campus.

He said his son is just among the many victims of criminals preying on students and residents of Barangay Batong Malake, where UPLB is located.

Late last year, UPLB student Given Grace Cebanico was raped and killed. One of the two key suspects in her case, Percival de Guzman, is the first cousin of Carl Dactil de Guzman – one of three key suspects in Ray Bernard’s murder.

De Guzman, 26, who was arrested in Daraga, Albay the other day, is being held along with Tyrone Kennedy Terbio, and Joseph Beltran at the Calamba City jail on robbery and homicide charges.

Beltran pointed to De Guzman as the one who drove the motorcycle after Terbio stabbed dead the younger Peñaranda.

“We already have inquested the suspects one after the other for robbery with homicide, a complex crime,” Southern Tagalog Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) regional chief investigator Inspector Rizaldy Garcia, said.

De Guzman has refused to talk while Terbio denied the allegations, Garcia said.