IN what decent, civilized society is it all right to beat and torture a young man as part of his initiation into a “brotherhood” that is supposed to aid and protect its members? Why did the life of Horacio Tomas Castillo III, a 22-year-old freshman law student at the University of Santo Tomas, have to be snuffed out, simply to satisfy the sadistic urges of hyenas who believe that the ability to withstand extreme physical pain is a prerequisite to membership in their cowardly pack?
For utter cowardice was what the members of the Aegis Juris fraternity exhibited when they decided to dump Castillo—who had suffered a massive heart attack after undergoing a hazing—on a dirty sidewalk in Balut, Tondo, instead of bringing him to a hospital where he might have been saved.
An autopsy showed Castillo had severe blood clotting on both arms, possibly from being beaten there repeatedly, and there were burns from cigarettes and candle wax on different parts of his body.
It was heart-rending to see Castillo’s father, Horacio, crying as he recounted his son’s last days, how he had joined the Aegis Juris fraternity over his parents’ reservations, and how he reassured them that his initiation was already over. The young Castillo left for a “welcome event” that was supposed to be held Saturday at UST but never made it home. No father should have to bury his son, he cried as he sought justice for his dead boy.
As the authorities work through who were responsible for Castillo’s death and move to prosecute them, lawmakers need to revisit the Anti-Hazing Law, which has failed to stop violent initiation rites since it was passed in 1995.
From 2000 to 2008, 13 people between the ages of 16 and 25 died from hazing, police records show. After that, there has been at least one death recorded every year from hazing.
In 2015, the House of Representatives passed a bill repealing the Anti-Hazing Law and replacing it with a measure that imposes stricter measures to penalize schools and fraternity and sorority officers.
Under the existing law, hazing is merely a regulated activity and becomes a crime only when someone dies, is raped, sodomized or mutilated. The new law, proposed by Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian at the time, would make the act of hazing a crime.
Now a senator, Gatchalian is urging his colleagues to take action on his proposals.
Senate Bill No. 199, would repeal the 22-year-old law to institute a more comprehensive anti-hazing regime by providing a more prohibitive definition of hazing, expanding the scope of liabilities and increasing the penalties for hazing offenders, and mandating educational institutions to play a central role in hazing prevention and awareness.
As lawmakers go about repealing the ineffective law, they should also take into account the Supreme Court recommendation that intoxication and the presence of non-resident or alumni fraternity members during hazing should be considered aggravating circumstances, and these would increase the applicable penalties.
These suggestions make eminent good sense.
Of course, no law will eradicate an illegal act. To bring the barbaric act of hazing to an end demands a cultural change, particularly on the part of fraternity members who have moved on to positions of power and influence. They need to speak up and disown a senseless tradition that makes fraternity members, and not outsiders, the true barbarians.