Attacked with knives by girls at FEU, UST student has no clue about motive

Campus violence is not new, but the perpetrators who attacked Joanne Reyes last Tuesday on the campus of Far Eastern University were highly unusual -- a group of young women who were apparently coeds at the school and armed with knives and pepper spray. Reyes, a student from the University of Santo Tomas, is recuperating from seven stab wounds at Chinese General Hospital, where she was interviewed by GMA News. She says she did not know who assaulted her and still has no idea why. She was not robbed. UST and FEU, however, have been UAAP basketball rivals, with UST this year beating out FEU for a spot in the Finals.

 

Reyes was visiting FEU to see a film, after which she went to the science building to wait for a friend. She was wearing a UST engineering t-shirt.

 

She was approached by five unfamiliar girls who asked what she was doing.

 

“The next thing I know someone sprayed something at me,” Reyes recounts. “It stung my skin and eyes so much that I could not see and breathe. After being sprayed, someone stabbed me in the stomach and another stabbed me in the back.”

 

Reyes’ other friend could not come to her rescue after being sprayed as well.

 

The suspects hurriedly left Reyes who was on her knees after suffering five wounds in the back, one in the stomach, and one in the back of her head. She was rushed to the Chinese General Hospital in Manila where she is still recuperating.

 

The twenty-year-old victim recently underwent an operation on her small intestine which was pierced by the blade that went through her stomach.

 

If not for her backpack which cushioned the stabs in her back, her wounds could have been deeper and fatal. She can now talk, but still needs support in walking.

 

“I’m really thankful that I’m still alive,” she says.

 

The police have identified one of the suspects and gave Reyes’ family a copy of her picture.

 

The family is determined to file frustrated murder against the five suspects.

 

“Nowadays you really should be alert because you can’t be sure which places are still secure,” says Reyes. “It’s also very scary that those weapons were snuck in despite FEU’s security. I wasn’t the only student there, this could have happened to anyone.”

 

“When I arrived at the emergency room, the only companions my daughter had were her friends,” says Concepcion. “[FEU] shouldn’t have left my daughter. This [incident] happened on their campus and yet they only offered to help yesterday. They asked for my consent in paying for our hospital bills.”

 

Concepcion says that they have yet to see the CCTV footage of FEU. -- HS, GMA News