DOJ backs Senate bills banning hazing, making it a crime

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DOJ) has asserted that hazing should be banned as an initiation rite in all fraternities, sororities and other organizations in the country.

In a legal position submitted to the Senate, Justice Undersecretary Zabedin Azis said the DOJ supported moves in Congress to strengthen the Anti-Hazing Law due to numerous deaths among neophytes.

“We reiterate our suggestion to consider hazing… as including infliction of physical and psychological harm to neophytes [and] as a prohibited act,” Azis said.

“The present law merely regulates hazing and does not make the act criminal,” he added.

Several proposals in the Senate seek to regulate hazing and other initiation rites. One is a bill by Sen. Tito Sotto, which imposes the maximum penalty of life imprisonment when hazing is committed under the influence of illegal drugs or liquor.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s bill penalizes any person present during a hazing but who fails to report it to authorities. Sen. Gregorio Honasan’s bill mandates school authorities to monitor fraternities and penalize hazing.

Sen. Cynthia Villar’s bill provides that written parental consent must be obtained by a person aged 21 and below before he can be a member of a fraternity, that two advisers be present during the initiation, that a medical practitioner be on standby, and that neophytes must have a medical checkup before initiation.

“Congress [has] the power to define crimes and provide for their punishment,” Azis said. Jerome Aning