Gang leader facing
physical injuries raps

Bacolod City Police Office director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, yesterday said they have filed charges against a teenage fraternity leader, and they are searching for another head of a gang as they “closely” monitor such groups in the city.

In a report to Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Quebrar said they have filed cases for physical injuries against Rhamyr Interior II, leader of the SMAB-SP fraternity for initiating hazing activities involving students from Handumanan National High School.

They are now looking for Interior and Isabelo Ambid, head of Bandana Gang, who has a pending warrant of arrest, Quebrar said.

Aside from SMAB-SP and Bandana, Quebrar said they are also monitoring the gangs Tribal and ASPO, and groups in two universities in Bacolod, which are recognized by their respective school administrations.

Venady Cervantes, director for Students and Personnel Services at West Negros University, confirmed that they have seven recognized fraternities and that these groups are not engaged in hazing.

She said that aside from a briefing on the Anti-Hazing Law, the seven fraternities in their campus are also required to submit monthly reports of their activities.

Carlos Legaspi, director of the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos Student Affairs office, meanwhile, said that aside from an instance where a non-recognized fraternity was engaged in hazing, all their nine fraternities and sororities are not involved in violence toward their members.

He said the groups know the sanctions that they could be given once proven to be engaged in hazing.

In Quebrar’s report to Sayson, other schools in Bacolod do not have recognized fraternities within their respective campuses.

Last year, a number of crimes, including shooting, stabbing, and thefts that happened in the city involved teenage gangs.*PP

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23 rape complaints recorded

Police have recorded 23 cases of rape in Negros Occidental in the past two months of 2008, with Cadiz City topping the list of 31 towns and cities in the province having the most number of sexually-related incidents, with minors as victims.

Of the 23 rape victims, 16 are minors, records of the Negros Occidental police Women and Children’s Concerns Desk also showed.

This was on top of eight more sexually-related incidents that occurred in January and February, police said.

Seven of the 16 rape incidents with minors as victims, took place in Cadiz City, 5 in Kabankalan City, two in Sagay City, and one each in Manapla and Sipalay City.

NOPPO also recorded four incidents of wife battering and one for oral defamation, on cases of Violence against Women, and three cases of other forms of child abuse and frustrated homicide, on child exploitations.*GPB

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Man beats up minor;
draws 10-day term

A resident of Kabanklan City, Negros Occidental, was sentenced by a Regional Trial Court judge recently to suffer 10 days in jail for hitting and wounding a teenager with a steel pipe two years ago.

RTC Branch 61 Judge Henry Arles meted Zosimo Omboy alias “Susing”, a 10-day term in jail for hitting and injuring 11-year-old Roquer Balila with a steel pipe in Brgy. Camingawan, Kabankalan City, on February 12, 2006, courts records show.

The prosecution originally charged Omboy with frustrated homicide but Arles said, that the wound on Balila’s head did not show that the accused had the intent to kill him.

Arles also noted that there was no previous confrontation between Omboy and the minor before the attack.

Omboy denied the accusations during the trial, saying he was in his uncle’s house when the incident happened.

Arles, however, said that Omboy’s denial cannot prevail over his positive identification by Balila and his uncle, Gasbamel, who was with him at that time.

The judge also ordered Omboy to pay P25,000 to Balila for actual damages, court records show.*PP

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