THE Dagupan City council blinked and appears conciliatory to the proposal seeking to regulate, monitor and control activities of fraternities in the city.

From what appeared earlier to be a firm and non-negotiable position, Vice Mayor and Sangguniang Panlungsod Presiding Officer Alvin Fernandez has called on the public to give their suggestions on how the SP should approach the issue.

Last week, Fernandez said the city council cannot enact an ordinance banning fraternities, invoking the bill of rights in the constitution that states that it is the people’s right to form lawful associations or societies. 

But   this time, breaking from his hard-line position, he asked the schools to help the council by providing him initially list of fraternities in their campuses, their activities, their respective members and how these schools are monitoring these fraternities.

Fernandez also asked for a copy of each school’s policies on fraternities, particularly in matters of security and discipline, and assessment of character of fraternity members for the city council’s reference.

Lyceum-Northwestern University President Gonzalo Duque earlier asserted that it is the responsibility of the city government to regulate and control fraternities outside the campus whose activities have been marked lately with hooliganism.

He said the sanggunian will also request students of LNU and University of Pangasinan to manifest their sentiments regarding local government intervention and to submit their own recommendations on how violence involving fraternities can be curbed.

At the same time, he also requested the media to report on the violence and hooliganism committed by the fraternities.

Fernandez

gets flak

The vice mayor got it all wrong.

This was the retort of the Peace and Order Council as it denied its resolution allegedly asking to ban fraternities.

This was the clarification of the members of the POC during its joint meeting with the Educational sector last Tuesday.

The POC was reacting to the statement of Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez who stressed last week that the Sanggunian Panlungsod will not enact an ordinance banning fraternities in the city, invoking the Bill of Rights of the Constitution which states that “the people have the right to form lawful associations or societies”.

Lyceum-Northwestern University president Gonzalo Duque, co- chairman of the POC believed that there was misunderstanding between the vice mayor and the POC regarding the issue.

The vice mayor pointed out earlier that the council “cannot legislate the right of the people to associate,” adding that it is the responsibility of schools and universities to monitor the   activities of their students and implement stricter policies to ensure their safety.

“We are not talking of banning here. We are asking them to enact an ordinance that will regulate the fraternities, said Duque. “We can only ban fraternities when it is organized by minors.”

Duque said he had invited some members of the city council but none attended the second meeting of the POC.

“We would also like to know their sentiments on the issue because I believe that this is just a misunderstanding,” said Duque adding that his group is willing to attend one of the SP regular sessions if invited by the SP.

He said the matter had been presented to the SP four years ago because “hooligans continue to form illegal organizations that destroy lives and the future of students, particularly in high school and college levels”.

     Former Councilor Dominador ‘Boy’ Rayos, director for the student affairs of the University of Pangasinan, also clarified that they were only asking the SP to regulate fraternities here because fraternity-related violence has increased.

      Rayos earlier asked the city council to act on the matter as this might discourage students and parents from enrolling in the city

     He maintained that the schools are only accountable when the offense is perpetrated within the campus, but are not when the offense is committed outside the campus, Rayos said.

Mayor Benjamin Lim, chairman of the POC, already sent letters Feb. 14, 2005 to the SP asking them to act on the matter because it could unduly affect the city’s image as the educational center in the Ilocos region.

     Lim echoing the sentiment of POC, requested the SP to enact city ordinance requiring the master listing of all fraternities in the city and establishing an effective process of accreditation and tracking of fraternity members.

     Duque said parents may soon refuse to send their children to the schools here or they might withdraw them from schools, possibly thinking that they are not safe in Dagupan City.

     He asked the mayor’s office to again request the city council to hold a dialogue with  POC to finally settle the issue and act on it as the classes are due to start next week. — AQL

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