Lost in the brotherhood: Student deaths linked to fraternities

The public is angry once again over a couple of recent cases of alleged hazing that took the life of 18-year-old Guillo Servando of the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde and the "near-death" of a University of the Philippines student.

 

But uproar has only done so much in pushing forward a stop to the deaths that happen within the brotherhoods. While most academic institutions do not allow fraternities within their jurisdiction, this system has become an open secret of sorts, luring students in with promise of companionship and connections.

 

Facing physical and psychological hurt care of their would-be brothers is a way to prove a neophyte's loyalty to the fraternity he wishes to belong in. Some have to wonder, however, why a lifelong brotherhood needs such a painful welcome.

 

And why, in the midst of this process, the lives of several young men were reduced to black and blue.

 

Republic Act 8049, or the Anti-Hazing Law of 1995, came after the deaths of Ateneo Law student Lenny Villa, a hazing victim in 1991, and UP student Dennis Venturina, who was killed in a fraternity riot in 1994.

 

Enacted in 1995, the Anti-Hazing Law states, "No hazing or initiation rites in any form or manner by a fraternity, sorority or organization shall be allowed without prior written notice to the school authorities or head of organization seven (7) days before the conduct of such initiation." 

 

The law, said to lack teeth, has not stopped the deaths, nor assured justice for hazing victims and their families. In Villa's case, the decision came 21 years after his death, and gave no sense of vindication for his family.

 

See the known cases of hazing and other fraternity-related deaths over the last two decades in this infographic produced by GMA News Online. —KG, GMA News



- Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/KG/RSJ, GMA News
- Infographic by Analyn Perez, GMA News