My Cousin Rolly Tenmatay Abad- UP Frat Violence Victim

September 10, 2007

Twenty Nine years ago, I was in my senior year at UP when I received a call from the UP Police and UP Infirmary asking if we had a cousin named Rolly who was from APO (Alpha Phi Omega ) fraternity. They were looking for relatives of Rolando Tenmatay Abad and since I am a Tenmatay, they called our number at the UP Campus(My uncle ,Dr Augusto Tenmatay was previously UP Vice President ).

 I didnt know then that I had a second cousin named Rolly and that he was already a senior student at UP. All I know was that  they live in White Plains. Later on all my relatives called us up asking what happened to my second cousin.It was then I found out that Rolly Abad's mother was my fathers first cousin.

 At the wake, I found out that my cousin Rolly was just attending his last remaining class of Spanish at the Arts and Sciences building(a requirement for his fifth year in Engineering) when he was caught in the frat riot. He didnt even know that there was a frat war going on between his frat(APO) and another fraternity.He was already completely out of touch with what is happening in UP because he had just 3 classes left for him to graduate that semester.

Rolly was a big guy and during that time(1977) he was wearing clogs and the flare pants that was in fashion at that time. Since he was a little bit on the fat side he was not able to run when the riot started .He was stabbed by a member of the rival fraternity with a ballpen. The ballpen bore a small puncture mark near his tummy and the UP Police didnt know that it was that bad that he had to wait for the Police to round up the suspects before he was brought to the Infirmatay(we call the UP Infirmary).Rolly died four hours after he was brought to the Infirmary due to internal bleeding.He was just 23 years old.

My cousins family spent  a lot of money in fighting the case against  the fraternity men who were  responsible for my cousins death. It took them more than ten years to get a decision. By that time most of the frat members who were held responsble for Rollys death have either gone abroad or have already completed their university degrees .

Why am I writing about this? My cousins family was rich. Rich enough to hire a lawyer and fight his case in court. My cousin Rolly was not a hazing victim, he was a frat violence victim. But what is the difference…the same thing happens over and over again. Why does it have to come from UP where people are supposed to be civilized and not barbarians.

WIth another hazing victim in UP in the news…will it change the scene if people clamor for justice.I hope so..but justice comes slow….I hope this time the victim will get justice for his death fast.