MANILA -- The University of the Philippines (UP) System has directed all its officials to intensify security in its campuses, following recent controversies related to fraternities.
UP President Danilo Concepcion issued a statement on Friday, condemning the issues, including a brawl between members of two UP fraternities and a leaked series of social media conversations supposedly among members of Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity that had gone viral and offended various sectors, such as women, Indigenous Peoples, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) community.
An Upsilonian himself, Concepcion described the controversial media posts as even "more disturbing."
"Let me speak first as the President of this University. Whatever the source of these reported posts may be, the language and the behavior they contain are reprehensible and totally unacceptable in our community," Concepcion said. “Such flagrant misogyny has no place in a university dedicated to the highest ideals and the practice of gender equality and human rights. That practice is best tested in our private utterances and actions, and the attitudes displayed in these published posts demonstrate how much more we need to do to reform medieval mindsets within the university at all levels.”
Speaking as an Upsilonian, he said it pains him personally for his fraternity, which is celebrating its Centennial, to have been associated with these posts.
"They do not represent what we have stood for all these years, as they bring us back to the darkness rather than the light. But my pain cannot be compared to that of those maligned by the posts, and I assure the University community that I will do all I can, both as President and as a fellow of the fraternity, to root out this problem and to instill or reaffirm a culture of respect, tolerance, and decency within Upsilon and our entire fraternity system," Concepcion said.
He assured no protection to any of his fraternity brothers, who "may be found culpable of these kinds of offensive acts."
Meanwhile, UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan said UP officials are now investigating the alleged abduction and assault of a student inside the Diliman campus on Wednesday night.
"The alleged victim has not made statements of his own. Neither has he made a physical appearance, but the social media posts have turned viral," he said, addressing the students who gathered at Quezon Hall to protest frat-related incidents in the campus.
Tan added that UP will be deploying more security guards and security service brigades, especially in "hot areas, such as frat 'tambayans' (hangouts) and colleges with large frat memberships."
On Nov. 13, a scuffle happened between members of Upsilon Sigma Phi and Alpha Phi Beta inside UP Diliman’s Palma Hall. Another incident, allegedly involving weapons, took place inside the campus on November 14.
On Tuesday, screenshots of chat logs attributed to members of Upsilon Sigma Phi were leaked on social media. The messages involved misogynistic and homophobic remarks, which drew criticisms from netizens.
On Wednesday night, the owner of an anonymous Twitter account, where the leaked screenshots of the chat logs were posted, was reportedly “abducted” and “assaulted." (PNA)
