UP frat men refuse to enter plea

CHARGED BAND OF BROTHERS: Upsilon Sigma Phi members (from left) Cheran Cabrito, Elias Miles Villanueva, Rudolf Gene Karlo Neral, Rannie Mercado and Sean Rodriguez have their mug shots taken under the custody of the Quezon City police. QCPD PHOTOS

Five members of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity were arraigned for malicious mischief and physical injuries in the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 34 on Thursday in connection with the June 18 attacks against members of Alpha Sigma on the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines.

Alpha Sigma said the court entered a not guilty plea after the suspects–Cheran Ricardo Cabrito Jr., Elias Miles Villanueva, Rudolf Gene Karlo Neral, Rannie Mercado and Sean Rodriguez–refused to answer the charges.

The Alpha Sigma said a lawyer for the accused moved to defer arraignment because the MTC case was related to the frustrated murder case in the QC Regional Trial Court, which has been referred for preliminary investigation.

But lawyer Angelo Tapales, one of the counsels for the private complainants, argued that the deferment of the arraignment was unjustified because none of the grounds for deferment under the law is present in the case.

“Clearly, their motion for deferment of arraignment was a dilatory tactic. We are glad that the honorable court immediately recognized this and took swift and decisive action,” Tapales said.

The suspects were arrested in a car chase after the second attack on June 18 against Ernesto Luis Pangalangan and Mario Adrefanio Santos.

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The first attack, which happened an hour earlier, was against Joevie dela Cruz and Jesus Blas Vitangcol, who was severely beaten up.

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Both incidents involved men wearing black ski masks and wielding lead pipes but with different getaway vehicles.