Info drive against hazing urged

Zubiri issued the statement after the conviction of 10 Aegis Juris frat men responsible for the death of Horacio “Atio” Castillo III via hazing in 2017.

“I think [last Tuesday’s] conviction, after seven long years, is something that will be, I’d say, a deterrent,” Zubiri said, adding the public needs to understand the legal ramifications of participating in such heinous acts.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri. PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN

Zubiri said Castillo’s killers were convicted under the 1995 Anti-Hazing Law and not under the 2018 version of the statute that is why no school official was convicted for the crime.

He added that despite the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018, some sectors of the academic community remain reluctant to eradicate hazing because many faculty members were themselves frat members.

“I’ll be honest with you. Even many members of the academe are members of fraternities and sororities in their schools, (and) they went through that, I guess, baptism of fire. And so, because of that, it’s so difficult to get out of their system and mindset that this is an illegal act. It is an immoral act, and it should be stopped. So, there’s hesitation on that part,” Zubiri said.

Meanwhile, another alleged hazing fatality, an 18-year-old student in Barangay San Anton, Nueva Ecija, was reported on September 29.

Zubiri said he would urge Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara and Commission on Higher Education Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III to release a memo to school officials, saying that hazing is a criminal act.

Zubiri said frat members who were now in positions of power should speak against hazing.

“Now, I’m appealing to them. If you can contact your fraternity and make the case that this is already an illegal activity punishable by reclusion perpetua. We need their leaders to come out and speak up against this culture of violence still prevalent in their fraternity,” he said.