Presidential Proclamation No. 907 issued in 2020 declared the second week of February every year as a period for “strengthening the campaign to end hazing and other fraternity-related violence.”
During such period, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is tasked to “lead, coordinate and supervise the nationwide yearly observance of the National Hazing Prevention Week.”
Yet an online search for any news about what CHED has done for this year’s commemoration will yield absolutely nothing. The government office directed to lead the yearly observance did not even bother to put up a semblance of a campaign to comply with the Malacañang directive.
The Anti-Hazing Law, RA 8049, as amended by RA 11053, “mandates schools to implement information dissemination campaigns to provide adequate knowledge to students and their parents or guardians regarding the consequences of conducting and participating in hazing.”
Despite the tougher penalties under the law, hazing-related deaths still occur. “To address the continuous occurrence, as well as the dire consequences of this act of violence, there is a need for the active participation of various government agencies, as well as the private sector and non-government organizations, to increase awareness of the importance and value of hazing prevention,” Proclamation 907 stated.
But with the apparent absence of any concerted effort this year to make people aware of the need for hazing prevention, it would not be surprising if the mounting death toll continues. With the lack of information campaign to drive home the evils of hazing, more young people are bound to fall victim to barbaric “brotherhood” just like the many others over the years.
Among the latest fatalities was John Matthew Salilig, a 24-year old chemical engineering student of Adamson University who died on Feb. 18, 2023 while undergoing fraternity initiation rites in Biñan, Laguna.
The pain and grief felt by his loved ones was unimaginable. His horrible death at the hands of his supposed “brothers” in the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity, who then decided to discard his battered body like some rodent, is truly reprehensible.
“You wonder what sort of upbringing produces young monsters, and what reckless stupidity makes them overlook the existence of a law that prohibits hazing and other violent, abusive and degrading initiation rites, and imposes tough penalties,” screamed a broadsheet editorial then.
The evil these young “monsters” are capable of isn’t uncommon amid the reality that hazing can indeed turn young people into savages. The violent emotions prevalent when one is young and stupid, and without proper upbringing, can certainly be uncontrollable.
It’s only the guiding power of conscience that can possibly temper their barbaric acts and summon some remnant of humanity. But when it was decided that Salilig’s body would be simply dumped in a shallow grave in some vacant lot in Cavite, it was obvious that cowardice had ruled over conscience and humanity.
“Our aim is to make sure that Matthew is the last person to be victimized by hazing, we will not stop demanding justice until everyone involved in the crime is jailed for life,” Salilig’s father, Jeoffrey, had said. Seven suspects have been charged and the case is pending in court.
One of the reasons why the savagery in fraternity initiation rites hasn’t stopped all these years can be glimpsed from what one heartbroken father poignantly told another grief-stricken dad: “Sorry po at ganito ang justice system natin.”
The words were uttered by Mac Ferdie Marcos – father of Marc Andre, the San Beda law student who succumbed to hazing violence in 2012 – as he sent his sympathies to Aurelio Servando whose son, Guillo Cesar, a sophomore of De la Salle-College of St. Benilde who became a hazing fatality in 2014.
“Kung sana naresolba agad ang kaso ni Marc Andre, siguro po sana magkakaroon ng deterrent sa fraternities na magsagawa ng mga ganitong gawain,” Marcos said, addressing Servando in a TV interview.
Marcos was expressing his dismay over a September 2013 ruling by a Cavite RTC judge who had a chance to serve justice had she upheld the spirit and intent of the anti-hazing law in convicting those charged. Such decision could have sent shockwaves to fraternities engaging in violence and, thus, deadly initiation rites would have been discouraged.
Instead, the judge opted to dismiss the case saying, “No one is to be blamed for the death of Andre Marcos” in a ruling described by irate netizens as the “most stupid decision ever.”
The firestorm of protests that erupted online was so intense that people didn’t mince words in portraying her as “incompetent, corrupt, ignorant, arrogant” and a host of other unsavory remarks mostly unprintable in mainstream media. In 2017, the Supreme Court dismissed from service the judge for “gross ignorance of the law.”
Let’s hope the loved ones of Matthew Salilig do not suffer the same frustration as Marc Andre’s family. Latest developments indicate the verdict might be similar to that of three Philippine Military Academy former cadets who were convicted last August for the 2019 hazing death of cadet Darwin Dormitorio.
With the strengthened anti-hazing law, hope springs eternal. Of course, the so-called five pillars of the justice system – police, prosecutors, judges, jails, and the community – must work efficiently to identify, apprehend, prosecute, convict and incarcerate those responsible for Matthew’s senseless death.
In the meantime, CHED must do its task to prevent hazing.
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