MANILA, Philippines - The student council of the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) in Laguna is holding talks with the town mayor as the academic and local communities reel from two rape-slay cases and one robbery-murder in just five months.
In a text message to InterAksyon.com, the UPLB University Student Council (USC) said it will hold talks with Los Banos mayor Anthony Genuino, the son of former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Efraim Genuino, on Monday.
Pura Beatriz S. Valle, USC chairperson, said they want to discuss the “objective situation” of the Los Banos police program, assess the possible causes of these cases and recommend a plan of action.
At about 1:30 am Sunday, 19-year old Agriculture student Ray Bernard Penarada and his two friends were held up by two motorcycle-riding men along F.O. Santos St. in Barangay Batong Malake just as they were about to return to their dormitory.
The three were able to run, but Penaranda was overtaken by the suspects and stabbed in the chest with a knife.
According to Christopher Juliano, an emergency room nurse of the Los Banos Doctors Hospital and Medical Center (LBDHMC), Penarada was “dead on arrival,” with one stab wound on the right chest from what seemed to be a double-bladed weapon, which the attending doctor said could have hit a major artery, causing hypovolemic shock.
The nurse told Interaksyon.com that eyewitnesses saw Penarada walk to a nearby store before he was brought to the hospital, just about a hundred meters away from the corner of F.O. Santos St.
He also said that last week, a 37-year old hold-up victim who suffered from a gunshot wound was brought to the same hospital. An ER report said the crime happened along the PCARRD road, a remote and hilly route that leads to the Boy Scouts of the Philippines camp grounds.
Barely a week ago, the body of 14-year old Rochel Geronda, a high school student and sampaguita vendor, was found naked with her jogging pants tied around her neck near a junkyard in Demarces Subdivision, only less than a kilometer away from the UPLB main gate.
Five men aged 15 to 25 were brought to the municipal police station for questioning but only two agreed to undergo buccal swabbing test for DNA matching.
In October 2011, 19-year old BS Computer Science student Given Grace Cebanico was found dead just outside the UPLB campus with her wallet, cellular phone and laptop missing. It was an apparent robbery that turned into a rape-slay.
The murder suspects--a tricycle driver and a bank security guard--are already in the custody of authorities.
Coincidence
LBDHMC learned that Penarada and Cebanico are townmates and that their mothers are co-teachers in the same school in Tanay, Rizal.
The UPLB USC, on its Facebook page, demanded justice for the three murdered students and urged the authorities to hasten the investigation.
“We call on the government officials to develop efficient security programs and improve the existing ones,” it said.
Community enraged
The UPLB and the Los Banos communities are holding an indignation rally on Monday to call the attention of the local government, which is accused of not doing enough to protect citizens amid the spate of killings in what once was a very serene town.
“All of us know why this is happening. We opened our doors to someone who is not part of our community. Someone who does not have even an ounce of concern for us . . . Now, we are suffering the consequences,” Vanessa Reyes-Marfil, a resident of Los Banos and a UPLB alumna, told Interaksyon.com.
“[Mayor Genuino] didn’t do anything the first time around,” she added.
Members of the Los Banos Facebook group “Taga-LB ka kung…” been denouncing the deaths and some members are calling for Genuino’s ouster.
Mike Azucena, said recent incidents are “directly attributable to the incompetent mayor" who he said is “too busy defending himself” and his family from corruption cases filed against them.
“The people of Los Banos should make this incompetent mayor accountable! If he could not do his job, he should resign!" Azucena wrote.
SJ Lontoc claimed that the crime rate in the town rose since Genuino took office in 2010. Earlier news reports said the incidence of rape alone doubled from 5 in 2010 to 10 in 2011.
The younger Genuino and his father were accused of buying votes in Los Banos and Makati using Pagcor funds and influence in the months leading to the May 2010 elections. A graft case was filed against the elder Genuino, who allegedly used the 300 metric tons of rice that the Japanese Aruze USA company donated to typhoon victims in 2008 for the mayoral candidacies of his sons.
Erwin Genuino, Anthony’s older brother, lost in his mayoral bid in Makati.
Recently Wynn Resorts Ltd., in a lawsuit against Kazuo Okada of Aruze USA/Universal Entertainment, said the Japanese was found to have showered cash and gifts to gaming regulators, which included Efraim Genuino, former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and present Pagcor chairman Cristino Naguiat Jr.
source: interaksyon.com
