Hazing law ‘suffers from loopholes’
Lawmaker says parts of RA 9049 or Anti-Hazing Law allow violence
A LAWMAKER said loopholes in the anti-hazing law resulted in the continued proliferation of fraternity-related violence in the country.
Rep. Terry Ridon (Kabataan Party-list) said loopholes such as the exclusion of community fraternities and sororities from the authorities has rendered the law toothless and contributed to the continued practice of violent initiation rites that resulted in the death of De La Salle-College of St. Benilde student Guillo Servando.
“Despite the existence of a 19-year-old Anti-Hazing Law, such acts of violence continue to proliferate without a single conviction,” Ridon said.
Servando has been added to the long list of hazing victims, which include San Beda students Marc Andrei Ramos and Marvin Reglos, and University of the Philippines (UP) students Alex Icasiano and Cris Mendez, all of whom have yet to attain justice for their deaths.
In 1995, Congress passed into law Republic Act (RA) 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law, in the light of the death of Leni Villa, a law student from Ateneo de Manila who similarly died from hazing.
The law defined hazing as “an initiation rite or practice as a prerequisite for admission into membership in a fraternity, sorority or organization by placing the recruit, neophyte or applicant in some embarrassing or humiliating situations such as forcing him or her to do menial, silly, foolish and similar tasks or activities or otherwise subjecting him or her to physical or psychological suffering or injury.”
Ridon said he will again file a resolution calling for the review of the Anti-Hazing Law on Monday.
“The review of RA 8049 is long overdue. Congress should revisit this law, and address issues that have made its full implementation difficult and have rendered RA 8049 inutile,” Ridon said.
Cooperation
Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian (Valenzuela City) criticized the reluctance of university administrators to cooperate with police authorities in their investigation of violent hazing incidents, particularly the case of Servando.
Gatchalian said the Makati City police obtained the names of two prime suspects in the death of Servando based on the statements taken from one of the three other neophytes who underwent violent hazing in the hands of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity chapter at the DLS-CSB.
Two of the suspects were identified as Cody Errol Morales, 22, said to be the Lord GT (Grand Triskelion) of the TGP-DLS-CSB chapter and Pope Bautista who is the fraternity secretary. Six other Tau Gamma Phi frat men were identified only by their nicknames: Emeng, who is said to be the master initiator; Navoa, Rey Jay, Mike, Kurt and Louie.
Records asked
The administration of DLSCSB, however have refused to cooperate with police investigators, who are asking for the records of Morales and Bautista as part of the ongoing probe to determine who were responsible for the death of Servando.
“The fact that Benilde officials want a court order before they give records of students involved in the Servando case is an indication of their refusal to be accountable in fraternity-related incidents,” said Gatchalian said.
He noted that this was the same attitude by UP officials who have remained mum on the case of a 17-year-old UP student who was hospitalized for two days after undergoing initiation rites in the hands of members of Upsilon Sigma Phi inside a building in
Quezon City.
Incident
The UP Diliman administration has issued a statement confirming that there was a “fraternity incident” but said it was not giving details pending an investigation.
The legislator observed that whenever there are incidents of violent hazing involving their students, the standard reply of school administrators is that they prohibit fraternities and they discourage students from joining such groups.
“Educational institutions should be held accountable in case neophytes suffer physical harm or worse, death. Parents entrust their children’s safety to school authorities, who should be able to monitor what is happening in their own backyard and be liable for any trouble, especially hazing,” Gatchalian said.
The lawmaker is pushing to repeal the Anti-Hazing Law and is proposing a bill that hopes to put an end to the practice of violent hazing, which has resulted in several deaths of promising young students.
He noted that the law has not been effective in putting a stop to violent hazing and it does not hold accountable school administrators whenever injuries and death results from initiation rites conducted by fraternities. (Sunnex)