Band of Murderous Brothers: A Firsthand Account

What kind of environment has UP become that it regularly breeds people who will maim and kill one another because a brod was stared at by someone from a rival fraternity? What kind of a mind-set is required to transform intelligent young scholars into thugs whose claim to fame is the number of rumbles they've been in and "hits" they've done?*

4:50pm. We decided to do our case conference outside the Supervising Lawyers room. It was my team mates birthday so he proposed to treat the team and have our case conference in Shakey's Katipunan instead. We have two team memebers who are from the Upsilon Sigma Phi - the rival fraternity (currently) of Sigma Rho Fraternity.



about 6:45pm. Five seconds -- 4 hits to the head, two hits on the shoulder and chest, one destroyed laptop, and 8 other traumatized law interns. They came so swiftly. By the time the fact that 4 ruthless criminals went in and attacked two of our team mates was able to sink in, they were already gone....I just saw myself what the "5-second rule" means. Five seconds, they should be out -- whether or not they were able to do any damage. It doesn't matter if they were able to hurt someone. It doesn't matter if they were able to kill someone.

I thought it was just a friend of theirs who happen to likewise be in Shakey's Katipunan. Until they brought out their arms -- 4 stainless steel metal pipes. They hit my co law intern in the head and on the neck. They hit with such resolve that it seems they have no longer any regard for what their actions might result to. It could be serious physical injuries, disability, or death. At that time I was already in my knees cowering under the table with my other intern just waiting for the blow. I didn't know what was happening anymore. After 5 seconds they were gone. By the time I finally recovered and got up from under the table I saw my co-intern bleeding from the 4 ruthless blows they delivered on his head. My other friend was hit on the chest and shoulders. My other co-intern's laptop was picked up and thrown by one of them. My other intern, after freezing during the attack just cried.

They were not familiar faces -- not someone I have seen at the College of Law. My other co law interns think they might be undergraduate students as well. Undergraduate students, probably between 18-21 years old. EIGHTEEN to TWENTY ONE. How could this young students be so violent. How can someone so promising, and so privileged do such a ruthless and violent act. They could be criminals, for all we know they could already have been murderers.

I remember someone telling me an excerpt from a UP student's admission interview in lawschool when asked what separates UP, she answered "it's not the school, it's not the teachers, but ultimately it's the students". It is the students. It is US who would eventually determine the WHETHER OR NOTS (WONs). Whether or not we would do something about it or whether or not we would just continue to coddle this culture of violence.

Taken from Prof. Florin Hilbay's article Band of Murderous Brothers, in Unplugging the Constitution.

These were the pipes that the attackers used to hit our two team mates.