Ateneo's Utopia offers P200K for DLSU blast

(Updated 9:02 p.m.) The Fraternal Order of Utopia, an Ateneo School of Law-based fraternity, on Sunday offered a P200,000 reward for information leading to the perpetrators of the explosion that marred the Bar examinations Salubong at De La Salle University on Taft Sept. 26. Utopia president Tony Bernardo said the reward "will help speed up the investigation" into the explosion, where 47 people were injured. He added the money was contributed by Utopia members. "We have advised the National Bureau of Investigation already, and we have coordinated with the Supreme Court investigating panel because one of its members belongs to our fraternity," Bernardo said, but declined to name who among the eight-member SC committee is a Utopian. A report in GMA News' "24 Oras" weekend edition, however, said Chief Justice Renato Corona, Associate Justice Arturo Brion and Associate Justice Roberto Abad are members of the fraternity.
A separate statement from the group said the reward is for anyone "who can provide information that will lead to the early resolution and apprehension of the suspects in the bombing incident." The group condemned the incident as "an act of terrorism." The grenade blast occurred outside the De La Salle University along Taft Avenue in Manila, during the traditional Salubong where well-wishers greet graduate students emerging from four successive weekends of the grueling Bar exams. Government investigators said they have yet to conclude whether the violence was an offshoot of fraternity wars. Manila Police District spokesman Chief Inspector Erwin Margarejo said Saturday police were concentrating on “individual liability" and not the “fraternal colors" of the suspects. Jed Carlo Lazaga, a fourth year law student of the University of San Jose Recoletos Law School in Cebu province, was identified as the one who allegedly threw the grenade. However, Lazaga denied the allegation and accused members of Tau Gamma Phi fraternity of mugging him on suspicion that he was responsible for the blast. The Supreme Court, which has direct supervision over the Bar examinations, will start its investigation on the incident on Monday, the "24 Oras" report said. Ten witnesses will be called on to testify, including Lazaga. The panel that will conduct the investigation is expected to submit its report to Corona on October 15. —VS, GMANews.TV