Saddam is found, Ople is lost. But Nino's suspected killers still untried.

A very good friend of mine was right next to Nino when he was shot and killed. The perpetrators, as she said, can only be called "hard goons" -- men who are armed AND dangerous. The notion that these are for-hire henchmen sent out by a rival fraternity has been bounced around time and again. I don't know where that has gone, but what we do know was that they meant not just to ruffle his feathers, but to kill him.

In sworn statements made by witnesses, it was disclosed that prior to the incident, some people actually talked to the three suspected assailants.

According to Rina Sartin, a photocopier operator at the AS 101 Palma Hall, she noticed three men who appeared to be looking for someone. They were Resurreccion Ranin Jr. and Besmar Al-Baddah Lauppah, bodyguards of Yasser Abbas, another UP student. Sartin knew Abbas and had chatted with him. In fact he had introduced the two as his bodyguards some weeks before the attack.

Yasser Abbas, a member of Sigma Rho fraternity, was allegedly mauled by members of the Scintilla Juris. The killers, it was said, were after Bryan Balogin of the Scintilla Juris, whom Abbas had marked as a “hit." Calinao was simply mistaken for Bryan Balogin.

I hope there will be justice soon.