3 former UP students plead not guilty in frat-related slaying

MANILA, Philippines – Three former students of the University of the Philippines (UP), including the son of former Environment Secretary Fulgencio Factoran, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to homicide charges filed against them in connection with the death of another UP student in 2000. The students were accused of ganging up on Den Daniel Reyes, a third year engineering student and a member of Alpha Phi Beta fraternity, in front of the UP Law Center in Diliman, Quezon City, on the night of Feb. 10, 2000. Reyes was stabbed and hacked to death. Accused were Fulgencio Factoran lll, Marcelino Rongo, and Gil Taway – all members of the Sigma Rho Fraternity. They were arraigned at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 220 before Judge Jose Paneda. In a March 24, 2003, resolution, RTC Judge Leah Domingo-Regala ordered the withdrawal of the information filed against the accused, saying that they had been deprived of their right to due process. But the Supreme Court, in a issued last February 13, reversed the RTC resolution, saying that Regala gave no reason on how she had reached her decision. The accused asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision but the high court refused, saying that the motion for reconsideration lacked merit. According to court records, the arraignment of the accused has been postponed several times due to the several motions filed by both parties at the RTC, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court. Some fraternity brothers of the victim identified the accused as among the Sigma Rho fraternity members who ganged up the victim while in front of the UP Law Center. The court set the pretrial conference for September 24. - GMANews.TV