LUCENA CITY—A civic group and rival fraternities based in this city have bonded and initiated a campaign to stop the hazing practice in initiation rites.
“We call on other fraternities, sororities and other organization to stop hazing rites,” lawyer Ronaldo Calayan told college students at a symposium on Republic Act No. 8049, the Anti-Hazing Law, held at the gymnasium of Calayan Educational Foundation Inc. (Cefi) on Friday.
Calayan, head of Rotary Club of Lucena South and a member of Tau Gamma Phi (TGP), confessed participating in hazing rites during his college years.
His narration of the pain and humiliation that a fraternity neophyte undergoes during hazing rites terrified his listeners.
A student, who requested anonymity, told the Inquirer she abhorred Greek-lettered organizations and “does not have the stomach for the vulgarities associated with the initiation, much more senseless body pains.”
Lawyer Rachel Calayan, dean of Cefi student affairs, cited provisions of RA 8049 that would explain why hazing is a criminal activity.
Arnel Avila, head of Club 1925, an association of Alpha Phi Omega (APO) members in Quezon, admitted experiencing hazing in high school and college and declared that his fraternity has long abandoned the hazing practice.
“Our focus now is more on academics and no longer on tolerance of physical abuse,” Avila told his audience. He showed a small wooden paddle used for hazing which he said was a souvenir of his fraternity’s dark past.
He said it was just a replica as the true paddle is wider and bigger and capable of inflicting very serious injuries.
Calayan said Rotary, TGP, APO, Beta Sigma and other fraternities would sponsor more forums in other campuses in the province to promote their advocacy against hazing.
Calayan and Avila admitted that their groups have a long history of hazing victims and fraternity rumbles that sometimes led to death.
“But that was long ago. We are now in solidarity with other fraternities and sororities in the campaign to promote peace among our ranks,” Avila said.
Hazing cases persist to this day despite passage by Congress in 1995 of RA 8049, which came after the death of Ateneo law student Lenny Villa.
The Anti-Hazing Law prohibits physical violence during initiation rites of fraternities and similar organizations and penalizes with life imprisonment activities that result in death, rape, sodomy or mutilation.
Last week, a freshman law student of San Beda College, Marc Andre Marcos, 20, died from serious injuries a day after attending a fraternity initiation rite in Dasmariñas City in Cavite. Members of the Lex Leonum Fraternitas were suspected to be behind his death.