Recto, other public figures urged to denounce hazing

MANILA, Philippines—A father who lost a son from hazing last year called on distinguished public figures who are members of fraternities to openly come out — probably in a television advertisement — to denounce such violence.

Aurelio Servando, whose son Guillio Cesar died in June 2014 after an initiation rites conducted by the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity in Manila, particularly directed his call to one of its prominent members: Senate Pro Tempore Ralph Recto.

Aurelio Servando. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

“If more prominent people like you could come out openly against hazing, I think we’d be able to convince those who are younger, who are still presently in fraternities to finally put a stop to hazing,” Servando said when he faced the Senate committee on justice looking into the case of his son.

“There’s one particular senator that I’d like to hear, voice out his voice about hazing because he’s also a member of Tau Gamma Phi, he’s none other than Senator Ralph Recto. Unfortunately, sir, I’ve been trying to get an answer from him but he has so far not given his opinion on the hazing cases involving Tau Gamma Phi,” he said.

But in an article published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in July last year or a month after the incident, Recto was to have said that schools and universities must do their job in cautioning students against joining fraternities.

“Maybe at the beginning of the school year, during their orientation, (they) can explain … to the students that they have to be careful, that hazing and violence are not allowed, that there’s such a law and you can be criminally prosecuted,” Recto said.

Still at the hearing, Servando pointed out that Tau Gamma Phi is one of the biggest fraternities in the Philippines with the “most number of deaths.”

“There had been at least 11 or 12 that I know of and there are cases that were not even reported so napakarami ng pinatay nitong Tau Gamma Phi,” he said.

It was at this point that Servando called on prominent people who are or former members of the fraternity to use their position to denounce hazing.

“If more prominent people like you would come out and say openly and maybe in a television ad that we are former members of the fraternity, we went through the hazing procedure before but now that we are in position, now that we realized that it is not necessary, now that we have children of our own and you don’t want them to undergo hazing also because they don’t want to die, maybe these young children will listen and will finally move to abolish hazing,” he further said.