Are there American Style Gangs in The Philippines?
I’ve seen signs of Bloods and Crips when I lived in Talisay City which is a suburb just south of Cebu City. What kind of signs? Within a block or two of 
each other I saw the words “Crips” and “Bloods” written on the walls.
There was other graffiti but it wasn’t of the quality that I often saw in the USA. In Memphis, there was some really beautiful graffiti and some of it was gang related. I once passed by one area where one of the Asian gangs were painting a beautiful dragon on a wall. The city soon sand blasted that off the wall.
I asked some of the Filipino I knew if they were really Bloods and Crips and all of them told me they thought it was wanna-bes. I hope so but I’m not so sure.
Republic Act 9344
There is a law in the Philippines that makes it practically impossible to prosecute minors. Republic Act 9344 doesn’t quite do that, but its application in Cebu has effectively resulted in the government taking that position.
Recently there was a young girl, 13, gang raped and then killed. All but one of the members of this group were not held by police. You can read that shocking story by clicking here. This sounds like an American style gang in the Philippines to me!
It seems to me that RA 9344 would set up a perfect breeding ground for organized crime. There are laws to protect kids from such organized crime syndicate bosses but it seems to be hard to prosecute the people that use children to commit their crimes for them.
The kids don’t have any reason to talk about who they work for as they can’t be prosecuted. If they do talk, what kind of jeopardy would they put themselves or their families in? Probably substantial.
Large Filipino Population In California
It is my understanding that there is a large population of Filipino living in Southern California. There are many gangs in south California. The leaders of gangs would be in a position to find someone willing to return to the Philippines with the intent of starting local gangs.
One thing that might help to slow the growth of gangs is that Filipino families, often have strong ties. I don’t know if this holds as true in Manila as it does in the provinces. Still, the allure of flashy Filipino with lots of money will be very appealing to many. I’d like to have a Corvette or Hummer myself. Tempting bait for recruiters to use.
It would be a shame to see the growth of gangs with American ties to see growth here. Some say they are already here. I don’t know that to be true but there is some evidence of that. I found someone on YouTube promoting the Crips and Bloods. I doubt a gang member would promote both though?
I sure hope the Philippine government has this under control.
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Interesting.
When I first visited her homeland with my wife, in 2000, I was a gang prosecutor in Texas. I saw signs of gang activity throughout stretches of Manila — very blatant stuff. But everyone I talked to said “we don’t have gangs in the Philippines.” I guessed what I was seeing was California-style banging rather than Chicago (Gangster Disciples,etc.) from the graffiti. There was a huge spray painting of “Brownside 13″, indicating that the Brownside gang bore allegiance to South Cali in their style (flashy and violent) instead of the more traditionally subdued North Cali “14″ style (dangerous but much more intent on stacking the Benjamins than making stars). I saw other gang zones marked up and even a “conflict wall” between two gangs, which was the cement wall of a bridge that was mostly one gang’s graffiti on one side and the other on the other side, together with the standard RIPs commemorating those who took a bullet or a blade for the gang and the standard cross-outs targeting who was next. I showed this to some people and explained it to them.
“But we don’t have gangs in the Philippines!” they laughed. “You’re paranoid.”
I looked into when I got back. Apparently, gang-banging in the PI got a huge boost when (in the wake of Crip-Blood wars of the 80s) the 1990s turned into a war on gangs in California. One of the tools was deporting any banger subject to deportation — which sent a lot of them to the Philippines. I found out that Brownside 13 actually started in LA, in fact.
But, fortunately, we don’t have gangs in the Philippines.
Something I didn’t mention in the article is that gangs are often referred to as Fraternities here but I THINK they are more home grown in nature.
I remember when Memphis police finally officially admitted there were gangs in Memphis. The rest of us knew it for the prior 10 years.
I’d say you’re in a much more informed position than most of us though. That there are gangs here is obvious. The papers refer to gangs all the time but not the bloods and crips style gangs. I talk of those because they are the more infamous though I recognize most of the names you mentioned.
Do they have ties with the US gangs? Are they as violent and uncaring about life?
It must be eerie to see your graffiti X out to indicate your next. I doubt that most of them would show it but they gotta feel it.
My girlfriend has corrected me when I used the word mafia in regard to the Philippines. I’ve seen the words “Philippine Mafia” in Western press but she tells me it is referred to as the “syndicate” here. She believe it is much more common in the larger cities than out in the provinces. I once scoffed at the idea that the beggars would be working for the syndicate but in the larger cities that is common.
The people that live here are usually pretty good at knowing what is going on but they are not always correct. It would make sense that a deported gang member would wish to carry on his lifestyle once back here and become a founder here. It seems they would be far more effective though if they had ties to the US.
Thanks for your insights, you’re in a better position than most of us to read the signs.
Hi Rusty &b Kurt, I’m reading Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh. It’s a memoir of South Californian Indian born Sociology Grad student in the Univ. of Chicago. It’s his gripping, fascinating tale of his brush w/ the local gang leader of Chicago’s Black Kings. Just a week ago, I was watching news & it featured a riot of about 20-30 youth. A resident captured in video from his mid rise apt the rioting w/c seemed to be going for several nights. I dismissed it as another mayhem in the south side of Chicago. Then I almost fell off my chair when it identified the location of the brawl which was about 4 blocks from where I live. Just recently too, I saw on Filipino channel a news about brawls in Quezon City. In the news, you would see the youth fighting in the middle of a busy street of QC–in full view of motorists, vendors, residents–with uncollected mountains of garbage. Apparently, the live footage of the fighting was taken by the news reporter. He was also able to interview the kids. Invariably, the fight stemmed from “nagkasamaan ng tingin” (Kids trying to be grown ups, copying grown up follies by getting offended when they thing they were given a bad stare or something),girls and right from the word of the youth interviewed, sometimes they fight becaus “trip-trip” ( or they feel like it)
I think there lies the difference between gangs in the Phil & gangs in the US or say Chicago. Chicago gangs seem impenetrable. No local news could visit their areas of work etc. My impression of gangs ( Phil style) is a group of kids. From what I’ve read of Chicago gangs, they are run by adults.
Hi Rus, I think the gangs there (I’m back in Oz now) may try to imitate the gangs from the US, or if they were deportees, they may find that in PI, if they don’t work, they don’t eat! So it will be interesting to know how many actually stay in one for years? but yeah, I have heard that if you want someting “taken care of” use an underage child.
That’s what I hear, imitations but it sounds as if they are doing some very excellent imitations on that graffiti and the deported folks can teach thee locals.
I’ve seen pics of Filipino that know the crips gang signs. Hard to know where they actually are when the pictures are taken though. Some of the pics certainly looked like the Philippines.
Crime does pay, that’s why people do it. The life span can be short though. I heard teens in Memphis that don’t expect to see 25.
The DSWD in the Philippines can hold children if deemed to be in their best interest. I think I figured out how this works. They can hold them on grounds that their development is in danger but not for breaking the law. It has to be in the name of protecting them. However they often takes these kids to regular schools with only the same supervision all the other students have and they disappear whenever they like.
I think they are in the Philippines. The US government denied it for years too.
The fratetnities you are talking about are legitimate college fraternaties that have been infiltrated by thugs. So they make a college fraternity like a violent gang.
No Tom, they call gangs fraternities in many cases. They don’t have Greek sounding names and they are not about Greek rituals.
The fraternities at colleges are totally different. They almost never have anything to do with colleges.
I did some more reading on this and it appears that the fraterntities on campus are also violent too. But they are not always associated with colleges.
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Fraternities_in_the_Philippines
Yes that’s what I said.
Years ago they convinced the college administrations to allow members that were not students. Many have now been heavily infiltrated with thugs and even have turf wars between themselves. I don’t know that they are affiliated with any street gangs but that is what many of them have become.
The only reports I had read about involved a non-college group.
So I assumed the word was being used different here. Perhaps they’ve cleaned it up a bit. Would be easy to fix. Students only. Well, now that the cats out of the bag, it might take somet ime. Its a shame they allowed them to get to that state.
I don’t read the papers here as close as I use too but i’ve only seen frats that were nothing more than street games mentioned in the papers. I could have missed it though.
This sounds like two different phenomenon. I doubt any Philippine fraternity named itself using the distinctly South Central LA set of signifiers, “Brownside 13.” Anyway — as I said, Brownside 13 was a documented gang in LA in the late 90s.
Yeah but Tom was right, the fraternities at colleges have been known to become violent with each other. That’s sad. The hazing appears to be extra violent, not just the usual unwise stuff.
As for the LA Gangs, you’re the authority on that.
The Philippines has way of dealing with them though that the USA could never get away with. I don’t want to speak negatively about the way of the Filipino, it is there country, not mine. I’m glad the US follows the rule of law, at least more. Even though sometimes, there’s very little justice there. I don’t have any experience in criminal matters, thank God. I do have more than I like to admit in civil matters and I know there’s very little justice there. Instead its has too much too do with which lawyer can manipulate the system better. Its the law but the law is in too many cases, not fair. I’m sure you have seen it go both ways.
I never heard of Brownside 13, that I recall. I watch a lot of documentaries so It could have gone in one ear and out the other. Bloods and Crypts big in Memphis also so Asian gangs that I don’t know the names of.
PS before I left Memphis, I got a carry permit and a 45.
I like the .45. I live in a house in a suburb in Dallas, Texas, though, so with my permit I picked up a .40. Less stopping power but less likely to through-and-through and hit an innocent. CZ-75B chambered for .40, same basic frame used (licensed for manufacture under various names around Europe, the most common sidearm there, and the sidearm of the Israeli military under another license-name).
Ironically, it wasn’t prosecuting street gangs that caused me to pick it up, it was threats from white supremacist and “sovereign citizen” groups.
Man I hate that. You’re white?
It was very likely gangs that caused me to finally do it. I am a night owl and went to my Pak Mail box a couple of times late at night and got the daylights scared out of me. That was the final straw.
I had been thinking about it quite a bit. Even though I couldn’t have had my gun on me if I had breen a Va. Tech. That shooting caused me to think about it hard. I felt like it was my duty. I would have a hard time living through something like that and not having been able to react. I’d have an even harder time dying though something like that. LOL
I just had a cheap, heavy Rugar. It was said to be one of the most reliable around but felt like a brick in you hand. I can vouche for the brick. LOL I don’t remember the model number, had to leave it behind when I came to the Philippines. Foreigners can carry here but there area huge amount of paperwork to jump through and having to use it could go badly, even if justified.
Hi Rus, when I was going through University here in Oz, Fraternities were unheard of, and I believe it is still so. I was never approached to join one, and none of my friends at Uni heard of them either. Is this an American phenomenon copied by Filipinos? or copied from somewhere else?
When I was holidaying there recently, I heard of a young boy accidentally died after being put through hazing. For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would endure those torture just to belong to some group? And I bet some of the parents of these kids were probably slaving themselves in the middle east just to send them to college. And I don’t know why colleges tolerates these groups?
Death’s in the USA use to be way too common. Colleges cracked down on them in the late 70’s. Some boys in Mississippi died in the trunk of a car. Boys being boys that ended badly.
There is still hazing but most of the time now its making them do silly things. At Millsaps some frats had to stop and talk to a tree every time they passed it for their first year. Some certain tree in the center of the college. Stuff like that. Going through things like that does improve bonding. The US Navy SEALS got through BUDS training for example.
It is huge in the US. I didn’t have interest in it when I went to school but it would have been good to do. A great way to get to know people that will have your back for the rest of your life and many of them will become very wealthy. They were expensive and I was shy.
Girls have sororities, they are much the same but far less likely to get into serious mischief. Youngsters being what they are though, there’s always potential for trouble.
Its often referred to going Greek. Often full of snobs, depending on the Frat. Would have been fun, one of the many things I would like to have done over but I didn’t live on campus and that would ahve made it too expensive for me to do. Usually rich kids do it. Again, depending on the Frat and the school.
Hi Christine, fraternities have been a fixture in the universities. Sometimes, they are as old as the university itself. They exist to serve the academic interest of the students, to mould them into well-rounded citizens. Because it’s a competitive world, tension arises w/ fellow students belonging to different fraternities. Fraternities are nothing but greek sounding organizations. I have a first cousin who was stabbed by another rival frat student. That first cousin is anything but academic BTW. He just liked to be a part of the group. When I was 16, I befriended a girl who was in college and a lot older than me. She belonged to a particular sorority affiliated w/ a fraternity of course. I spent a lot of time w/ them. By the time, I could join fraternities, I already found it unappealing.
Thanks for the explanation. I must say, I got through my nursing course here in Oz, without having to join one. Aside from having to belong to a group (what’s wrong with plain old friendships anyway?) what benefits does it actually give to the student? i.e. will they pay for your tuition fee when Dad’s support money is late? etc, etc…
Where I went to school, the fraternities often touted their high GPA average among members as a reason to join. They would promote them on the idea that their members can help you with your college skills. The first year at Millsaps saw a lot of people wash out. The school I went to was all about academics though.. Sports was not a free ticket by any means.
The fraternities have and require members to live in the Frat house which is usually expensive. For that reason, they usually are composed of people that come from wealthy families, or at least well off and they are seen as “snobs” by many.
There were many good reasons to join, most humans do want and need to feel like they belong to a group. That’s one reason why gangs in the USA are doing so well. Kids often grown up in poor areas with only one parent, if that. The gangs give them a feeling of belonging and even love.
Hey Rusty — yeah, I’m white, but I was worth a lot of “points” (white supremacist groups have an old that gives you a certain number of points for who you kill, it’s been so long I can’t remember but I think at 250 you’re in their hall of fame or something). I was a prosecutor (points for that), I was a “race traitor” (married to an Asian, points for killing me on that), I was a “race polluter” (we had kids, points for that). But of course what really had them ticked off was I both prosecuted them and was getting good intel out of my sources. I was eight months ahead of enforcement on one key alliance, for example, which helped me back warrants when that time came.
I got the gun after my kids were threatened on a wire; that and several years studying martial arts.
I have to say, Crips and Bloods were a lot less stress prosecuting. They didn’t take everything so personal, it was all just business. I actually liked some of those guys. Sent them to prison because we just couldn’t have them running around robbing and killing folks, but they were kind of funny just to sit and talk to. The white supremacist guys? Not so much.
Geesh its a wonder how those guys could get out of their diapers with thinking like that. You’d have to be half ape these days to not know our blood lines are so kris-crossed it would be hard to “pollute” the gene more if we tried.
There is strong genetic evidence we call came out of Africa. There are studies going on now that re-enforce that.
When I was working, some of the black girls use to say to me “Rusty, are you sure you’re not black.” My reply was, I’m sure I’m part black.
Not sure why they asked me that.
They white supremisit often quote the Bible as a source for their beliefs, did they miss the part about Adam and Eve. Do they think Jesus was lily white? I sure don”t.
Oh well, trying to make sense out of Nazi thinking is pointless.
Hi! I’m an engineering student at the University of the Philippines, currently on my junior year. And, yes, I’m a true-blue Filipino.
This is an interesting read, to be completely honest. But it seems some people still misunderstand the contexts of gangs and fraternities here in the Philippines. I am an observer of all things “gangsta” back at my hometown in Laguna (go Google it, nice vacation spot BTW), and after doing some research majority of the so-called gangs and street fraternities were just complete rip-offs of the original crews back in the US.
I can’t say I’m an authority in gangs in the US, but I can say clearly that gang members here in RP try to emulate the style of famous gangs and mix some local “flavor” to it. Quite frankly, the result is a shameless rip-off which most of us call “baduy” (again, go Google it).
Local authorities have another opinion on them: gang and fraternity members and affiliates constitute the majority of juvenile arrests for murder, drug abuse and other misdemeanors. Drug abuse inside gangs is not something new, especially in poor urban areas where gangs tend to dwell and flourish. Some of them as young as seven years old are already affiliated with these juveniles, and are racking up crimes as much as adult criminals do.
Honestly, I don’t get the logic of joining one: to be frank you’re just wasting time dealing with those unscrupulous people. And now even college fraternities join the fray, having outlets in the University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila University and other private institutions. It seems the growth of gang-like groups continue to rise here in RP.
Last August 2007, Chris Mendez was killed by an initiation rite of a fraternity in UP Diliman. Other reports of killings surfaced in UP campuses and ADMU, even though the 1991 Anti-Hazing Law was implemented. It seems there is no stopping them now.
Whatever their intentions are, they’re up to no good.
I am living in the Phils for 15 monhs now and Im living in the province of Leyte… but today I was told about Gangactivities here in our province…
It scared the shit out of me that ppl let others burn them with a 5-peso-coin for 10 seconds just to be part of something…
The most scary part of it is that as a boy they have to clean up places of higher ranking members and as a girl they have to ‘entertain’ the guys… and they are proud of it becuz they are part of something!
Humans are very social animals. It is believed we will die without contact. Not have someone take care of us and nurture us as young children often leads to anti-social personality disorder. Put a monkey in a cage and leave it alone, it will go insane.
People will do most anything to be part of a group. Dress up crazy to be part of a group of fans is a tamer means of doing it. Bumper stickers, all kinds of way we do it.
Young kids, they become blood brothers. Find a kid that is alone and he is prey. I’m sure the gangsters feel like they are doing the other members a favor. As long as they are burning themselves, go to it.
The crime though, that’s a bigger concern. Pregnant babies is not good either.
I’m an OF in UPLB and I agree with Noel Manao. There’s no need to join in any fraternity/sorority. You don’t know, maybe your life is the payment in joining such group (exaggerating ^_^v ).
By the way, Rusty, thanks for posting this article. It’s really helpful for me. I’m writing a research paper about gangs in the Philippines.
“The US Style Gangs are NOW in the PHILIPPINES”!!!!!!!!!!
This is not a LIE!!! Dont Deny the Gang Problem in the Philippines before it’s too late. Gangs & Fraternities maybe used by the Politicians, Businessmen & Organized Crime Groups. Filipino Gangs are thriving in the Internet like Friendster, Facebook, Youtube, Myspace & etc.
Black, Asian & Hispanic Gangs like Bloods, Crips, MS 13, Southside, TRG, ABZ, Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples, Northside, & 18th St Gang are influencing the Philippines (Filipinas) by the Internet. Gangs & Frats in the Philippines maybe use in the Election Violence in the Philippines.
See also the Filipino Gangs & Frats by their mp3 & videos in Imeem & Youtube. At first, They are wannabe, But later on they will have connection to the blacks, Asians & Hispanics(Mexicans) in the United States.
Filipino Gangs are now in the Philippine & in the United States (Los Angeles, Calfornia)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cribs & Bloods?…., kinda like the boy scouts on Negros, sponsored by the Mayor, red shirts and blue shirts in dance compititions.
Wanna talk gangs, like grown-ups?
National Peoples Army — the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines.
NPA is big. They broker the shabu trade between the ‘Other parties’ whom i shan’t name.
Nice people really, but most murders are shabu related so…, pay your debts?
You’d be suprised how deep the NPA are ingrained into the hinderland, waiting for the call to arms.
There’s a Captain in every barengey in the Viseyens regions. The communists try to maintain a shadow government in every province. The drug trade is a deal with Satan they don’t want but must control.
Election time is payola time. For the Haciendias the 2 or 4 year protection fee is setteled.
If you’re worried by kids in t-shirts with spray cans, well be afraid. Be very afraid.