4 suspects in fatal Cebu hazing surrender
CEBU CITY — Four Tau Gamma members who were linked to the death of an alleged hazing victim, University of Cebu student Ronnel Baguio, have surrendered to the police.
They were accompanied by lawyer John Patrick Umpad to the Mambaling Police Station in Cebu City before being escorted by police officers to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
A fifth suspect is still at large. One of the four suspects told the Inquirer that they decided to come out to finally shed light on what really happened on December 10, 2022, when Baguio, a native of Bataan province and a second-year marine engineering student, underwent initiation rites.
Investigation showed that Baguio underwent Tau Gamma’s initiation rites on December 10. But eight days later, Baguio felt dizzy, vomited blood, and had shortness of breath. He died at the Cebu City Medical Center on December 19 due to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to indirect lung injury. According to Umpad, the four surrendered “so that the government’s efforts to find them would not be wasted.”
READ: PAO bares another fatal hazing of engineering student in Cebu
Lt. Col. Maria Theresa Macatangay, CCPO spokesperson, said that investigators would determine their degree of participation in the hazing incident.The identities of the suspects were withheld by the police to avoid jeopardizing the investigation.
Macatangay said the four suspects were not detained since they had not been charged in court.
At the House of Representatives, a lawmaker has pushed for an all-out public information drive on the Anti-Hazing Act with the help of several government agencies, including the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Philippine National Police, to stop the practice which has killed many, including Adamson University student John Matthew Salilig.
READ: Death by ‘brotherhood’: Family, university in grief
In his House Bill No. 7434 or the proposed “Tulong at Gabay para sa mga Pilipino Kontra Hazing (Assistance and Guidance for Filipinos against Hazing) Educational Campaign Act,” Talino at Galing ng Pinoy party list Rep. Jose Teves Jr. noted that many were “still unaware of the prohibitions … and the gravity of punishments” in the antihazing law or Republic Act No. 11053.
While ignorance of the law excuses no one, “we must still extensively educate the public about the prohibition and negative impact of hazing [on] our educational institutions, societies, communities, and last but not the least, to our fellow Filipinos,” he said in his explanatory note.
Under the bill, the DepEd and the Commission on Higher Education will include in the curriculum the study of RA 11053 to “fully inform the students of the prohibited acts, negative impact and penalties of hazing.” The agencies will also publish and disseminate information materials on the prohibitions under RA 11053.
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