BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – Two young men, members of Psi Sigma Phi fraternity, were stabbed to death in Barangay San Nicolas, La Paz district before dawn yesterday. They were believed to be victims of a fraternity war.
John Rey Racasa, 19, and Rainer Castillon, 20, were on their way to their boardinghouse when attacked by a group of young men.
Concerned citizens rushed Racasa and Castillon to the Iloilo Mission Hospital but the two succumbed to stab wounds on their chests.
The attackers fled after the stabbing. They were members of the Megalith Nu Sigma Phi (Megans), said Senior Inspector Edgar Anonoy, La Paz police chief.
Racasa was a fourth year Criminology student of the University of Iloilo and a resident of Barangay Tacdangan, Cabatuan, Iloilo.
Castillon, 20, was a resident of Barangay Acao, also of Cabatuan and a graduate of the Philippine Electronics Institute.
Prior to their stabbing, the two had a spat with a group of young men believed to be Megans near a mall in La Paz, said Anonoy.
Racasa and Castillon ignored them and hurried to their boardinghouse, said Anonoy.
“Without their knowledge, however, another group of Megans were waiting for them near the boarding house,” said Anonoy.
A rumble left Racasa and Castillon with multiple stab wounds.
A female board mate told the police she received a text message from Castillon asking her to fetch him and Racasa outside their boardinghouse because a group of men were chasing them.
“When we came out of our boardinghouse, we saw them already on the pavement. They had stab wounds,” the board mate told the police.
Anonoy said one of the suspects was only identified as Racel of Western Institute and Technology and a member of Megans.
Senior Superintendent Ruperto Floro, city police director, ordered Anonoy to identify and arrest the suspects.
Floro is also planning to summon fraternity leaders in the city for a meeting./PN
