The Alpha Kappa Rho fraternity logo
CEBU CITY, Philippines –At least 52 members of the Alpha Kappa Rho fraternity, who were arrested Saturday night, August 8, for violating social distancing protocols, were already released from detention after they paid the individual fine of P500.
Police Master Sergeant Junyl Ater of Minglanilla Police Station said that their gathering in a vacant lot in Sitio Pitogo in Barangay Tubod to celebrate the fraternity’s 47th anniversary was a violation of a municipal ordinance that mandates the observance of social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease.
“Once maka multa pwede na maka gawas sa municipal ordinance ni gi igo,” he said.
(They will be released as soon as they pay the fine for the violation of the municipal ordinance.)
As of August 8, Minglanilla town in southern Cebu logged 414 cases of the infection with 326 recoveries and 21 deaths. Its active cases remain at 67 with the addition of six new cases on the same day.
Anniversary Celebration
Personnel of the Regional Intelligence Division in Central Visayas (RID-7) and Minglanilla police raided the vacant lot in Barangay Tubod after they received reports on the gathering of fraternity members in the area.
Ater said that the 52 fraternity members shared dinner and alcoholic beverages when the raiding team arrived at about 7 p.m. A karaoke machine was also found in the area.
But Ater denied earlier reports that two policemen, who are also fraternity members, with arrested with the group.
Fraternity members were brought to the police station for booking. Ater said that they were released before midnight after they each paid the P500 fine.
The different AKP chapters in Cebu and the rest of the country celebrated the fraternity’s 47th founding anniversary on Saturday. But because of quarantine restrictions, the group dropped their annual motorcade. / dcb