UPLB student stabbed dead near campus

CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna– A 19-year-old student of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) was stabbed dead Sunday, just less than a week after a high school student was raped and murdered in the same vicinity, police officials said.

Los Banos police chief Superintendent Dante Novicio said BS Agriculture student Ray Bernard Penaranda was killed by motorcycle-riding suspects who tried to rob him and two other students before dawn on Sunday.

Novicio said Peñaranda and his companions had come from a dance rehearsal and on their way home to a rented apartment when attacked by two unidentified suspects aboard a motorcycle along F.O. Santos Street in Barangay Batong Malake.

Peñaranda’s companions told the police that it was the motorcycle’s back rider who punched and stabbed the victim with a knife after announcing a hold-up.

“He suffered one stab wound in his chest but it was fatal. Penaranda was declared dead on arrival at the Los Banos Doctors’ Hospital,” Novicio said.

Penaranda’s companions described the suspects as full-bodied but failed to give a detailed description after the students ran away and sought help. The suspects immediately fled after the incident.

“We are still investigating if the suspects’ motive was really to rob the students. Nothing was taken from the victim. Maaari ding na kursunadahan sila (It was also possible that it was just a random act of violence),” Novicio said.

A 14-year-old high school student was also found dead last week at a subdivision near the UPLB campus, prompting police to intensify its security measures near the university.

These two incidents also prompted Novicio’s  relief and the entire municipal police station, according to Laguna police director Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz by phone on Sunday.

Cruz said Novicio would be transferred to the provincial police office in Sta Cruz town while the rest of the police officers would be reassigned to other police stations in Laguna to undergo training effective Monday.

Chief Insp. Conrado Masungsong, a former intelligence officer in the provincial police office, would take over the police chief’s post.

“Los Baños will be temporarily under the provincial police command,” Cruz said.