Monday, January 7, 2008

FRAT WARS & HALF-BAKED GANGS

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN being associated with a fraternity or sorority was considered vogue and brings with it prestige, popularity, pride and a sense of belongingness. During those times, the fraternity and sorority organization only recruited those whom they feel would become a good asset to their organization.

So it is common for them to get only the best student and the brightest scholar, the most popular coed or the strongest athlete and the richest guy or the most influential brat. Fraternities and sororities are known to support each other in their scholastic pursuits and even beyond it like landing a job position or being promoted to choice seats of authority.


I think, I belong to that era. And we took care not to tarnish the image of our organization so that its standing within the campuses, which it thrived upon, would not be hampered, especially in recruiting neophytes. Also, it was wise not to attract the ire of the school administration, much less the government authorities.


Only on one occasion though -- my fraternity became a part of a civil disobedience campaign during the Marcos regime! And we won that one and could look back with pride.


Fast forward to today. Cebu City’s news headlines are always assaulted by the repeated nuisance with which the Alpha Kappa Rho and the Tau Gamma Phi are preoccupying against each other. Both of these fraternities (I would rather call them organized criminal gangs having Greek letters for a name) are engaged in a war of attrition against each other and so many promising young lives are wasted every week for just being associated with either one.


The police, on the other hand, has been making threats to classify AKHRO and TGP as organized criminal gangs and have them placed in their order of battle. But, so far, it has done nothing except to announce that threat to the media and, later, doing another nothing by being seen photographed with these so-called fraternity leadership after a peace council was held.


Days after that it’s back to square one. There’s nothing wrong to fight for your turf but when it gets out of hand there must be something wrong out there. Gee, there must be had with regard to their respective leadership and their organization’s thrusts and objectives?


Their leaders always pay lip service to media assuring the city authorities (and the victims’ families) that they are doing their best to correct the situation. So far, I have not seen nor heard of any back-channel talks. They only show up to each other when compelled upon by the authorities for mediation after a series of shootings caused their members’ brains splattered upon the asphalt pavements and alarmed the local residents.


I heard that both groups have employed a rather unorthodox tactic of attracting neophytes. They call it the “community outreach recruitment program”. I have a first cousin, who is a college drop-out and have not been studying for more than nine years, appointed, after being initiated, as a community chapter leader of one group. And under him were high school and elementary students and drop-outs as his chapter members or “brods”.

I think it is time a law be passed to compel every school organization, scholastic or not, for it to secure Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration papers. It is also important to secure another permit from the provincial or city civil authorities and from the police, with recommendation from the schools where their chapters are entrenched, so as to regulate and control their excesses.

Recruitment of out-of-school youths as fraternity neophytes should be dropped from their programs and discouraged. What is important here is not quantity but quality.


Like it or not, those who fail to comply will be regarded as nothing more than just another criminal group and any criminal acts like murder, homicide or physical injuries attributed to a group, of whose officers and members are publicly known, will be criminally liable being that of either as principal, accomplice or accesory to the said crime being committed.


We, the community, are fed up of their skewed dispositions with regard to running their own organization and I am ashamed even to call myself a fratman, much more so, of being known as a member of a respectable fraternity that has nothing to do with those frat wars and killings that these groups are well aversed at.


Document done in RoughDraft 3.0, Trebuchet MS, font size 12.

8 comments:

ΩΧΣguy said...

I too take part of your disgust/disgusto against these kinds of associations of brother/sisterhood. mostly because not only frats like TGP and AKHRO wreak havoc among the name of us fratmen(sorry to my TGP/AKHRO friends here) but also the half baked gangs that you are talking about. gangs who calls themselves a fraternity but never under the same set of rules as a true blue fraternity.

It makes my blood boil when someone like a person from the TBS(takbo batang supot) or the TST(toma suka tumba) or any other gangs to "ipagmayabang nila na frat sila pero ndi naman"

Maybe someday we can reclaim the honor and the prestige of being a fratmember once again and not be labeled or connotate to those low level gangs.

Anonymous said...

The strong shall live and the weak shall die. I will support my fraternity whatever result may possibly occur in this frat war. Even if I spend a million dollars...!



Don Mclaine
MIG Investments SA

Anonymous said...

Let's say you have the point Don, but would you support even if against the law? I know you have a lot of money and influence but this present issue need more sincerity on peace negotiations. I know you, you are the Filipino who came from rags to riches...but you should think twice on your actions....innocent lives will be perished.

PinoyApache said...

"The strong shall live, the weak shall die...", you seem to sound like Shishiyo and his equally-evil sidekick, Houji. These fictional characters during the Meiji Era of Japan are what we call the disease. Of course, we would support our respective fraternities, but, when it came to stupidity I will not expend a single centavo. On the contrary, I am more of a cure, I will give free my million hours of good counsel to correct an error. Strength lie in moral uprightness not in blind loyalty.

Jack Nighthawk
Keeper of the Fire

Anonymous said...

fraternity ba talaga ang TGP Triskelion or gang? I think this type of organization is the most notorious and the biggest gang in the Philippines.Dito sa amin ang dami nilang member pati mga batang hindi pa alam kung anong kahulugan ng fratirnity ay kasapi na nila. one day may nakita akong baliw doon sa San Francisco,Agusan Del Sur ksapi din nila may malaking marka kasi sya sa gitna ng dibdib.tapos ang lakas ng loob nilang manira at mang lait sa ibang fratirnity at naku tinatawag pa nilang sarili na grad fratirnity sila...oh hindi!!!!

pilippine curious soceity said...

oh...triskelion is the number 1 of the bonified gang.? sa tingin ko yan ang totoo. eh bakit ang lakas ng loob nilang mang lait sa ibang fraternity pino post pa nila sa pinoy frat.ang dami nga nilang kaaway na frat at gangs. kaya pala ang tindi ng galit sa kanila ng mga ok ok dahil pala karamihan sa member nila ay out of skul yout maraming hindi naka apak ng skul at mga basaguliro bakit ba kinunsinti pa ng lipunan ang groupong yan..In fact marami ng namamatay sa heassing nila at proud pa ang karamihan sa kanila pag may namatay.naintindihan kaya ng karamihan sa kanila ang ibig sabihin ng fraternity???hoy mga kaibigang tau gamma phi fraternity ba talaga kayo o gang?marami kasing bastos sa mga member nyo..peace upon us

Anonymous said...

ha ha ha ha...TGP is an offshoot of APO...and AKP is an offshoot of..guess what??? if we study their history, we may understand them more and provide solutions to the problem...we dig the roots out and not reap the fruits...

Dorian said...

Hi, my name is Dorian and I'm a journalist and blogger from North America. Met a group of Filipino AKP73 while in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia this week. All very nice and friendly guys. They showed me their hazing initiation, which was quite startling. Very tough dudes for their age. I have a lot of respect for them personally. Interviewed them but am looking for more information on the group that isn't from the group itself. Trying to make sense of the AKP73's purpose, existence and history, as well as its battle with other frat-gangs and relationship with local police. I am interested in interviewing the poster of this blog. If anyone can provide me further insight about AKP73 please email me at drg173@mail.usask.ca. Thank you. Much love and respect. Terima Kasih!