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ROTC corruption exposé may have
led to slay of UST
student--police
By
Jerome Aning
Inquirer News Service
RELATED STORY:
Cops drop
kidnap-for-ransom angle in UST student’s slay (March 24,
2001)
MANILA police
are looking for a University of Sto. Tomas student who might have
information that could link the killing of his classmate to the
exposé that the two of them made about alleged corruption and
bribery in the school’s Reserve Officers Training Corps
(ROTC).
Engineering
student Romulo Yumul reportedly went into hiding after learning that
his classmate Mark Chua was abducted on March 15 and was found
floating in the Pasig River three days later.
The case
investigator, SPO2 Steve Casimiro of the Western Police District
homicide section, said he would want to know why Yumul thought the
exposé had something to do with Chua’s death.
Yumul and Chua
reportedly received death threats while the defense department’s
Regional Community Defense Group (RCDG) was investigating their
complaint against allegedly corrupt ROTC officials.
"The death
threats they received during the investigation can be used to
establish a motive behind the killing of Chua and to build our case
against the suspects," the investigator added.
When found in
the Pasig River, Chua, 19, was wrapped in a carpet. He was hog-tied
and his head was wrapped in masking tape.
Police said
Chua appeared to have suffocated. The decomposing body was later
identified by his father through the dog tag the student was
wearing.
Police are also
looking for other UST students, ROTC cadet and cadet officers and
ROTC staff interviewed by the campus paper The Varsitarian, as well
as the reporter who broke the story.
In The
Varsitarian’s Feb. 21 issue, the students aired various grievances
against the ROTC, including the sale of nonexistent uniform
accessories and lecture manuals, illegal suspension and a gun-toting
incident.
SPO3 Casimiro
protested the separate investigation of Chua’s death by the
UST-ROTC. He said the investigation, even if mandated by the RCDG,
should have been at least coordinated with his own probe.
Casimiro said
he learned yesterday that four Army reserved officers claimed to be
members of an "ROTC team" tasked to investigate Chua’s death. The
ROTC officers reportedly told Casimiro they would also provide
security to Chua’s father.
The policeman
said the existence of the two investigations is confusing the
witnesses.
"Chua’s death
is the police’s business," the policeman said. "I think the ROTC
should only bother about the exposé." | 
Sun. Mar. 25, 2001, Philippines 
ROTC corruption exposé may have led to slay of UST
student--police