Ronald Sequeña was rushed to hospital but was declared dead on arrival at around 4 p.m. According to a hospital attendant, black marks covered Sequeña’s body and the back of his thighs.
Based on initial investigation, Sequeña and four other "neophytes" met the members of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity at the university campus before nine in the morning and proceeded to a deserted house in Barangay Sta. Lourdes, some 15 kilometers from the town proper, where the fraternity’s final initiation rites were conducted.
Unidentified fraternity members brought Sequeña to a hospital when he fainted but he died on the way.
The four other neophytes, including Sequeña’s 17-year-old classmate, Ariel Magbanua, sought medical treatment in two separate hospitals the following day. The local police withheld the identities of the three other students.
The fraternity members tried to cover their tracks by giving fictitious names at the hospital and one even managed to bring Sequeña’s body out of the hospital by pretending to be his brother.
Superintendent David Martinez, chief of the Puerto Princesa police, immediately activated all the police intelligence networks to locate the corpse.
When Magbanua sought medical treatment in the same hospital the following day, police invited him for a tactical interrogation and confirmed that there was indeed a fraternity hazing.
Martinez, however, said that as of press time yesterday no relatives of Sequeña had tried to seek police assistance when he failed to come home for the past three days.
Officers of the Tau Gamma Phi had reportedly stopped attending classes and even PSU authorities could no longer reach officials of the fraternity.
Ricardo Tajolosa, adviser of the Tau Gamma Phi since 2004, said no one contacted him after the incident. He also said he is unaware of any hazing practice in the fraternity.
"I read their by-laws and I understood that they do not engage in hazing," Tajolosa claimed.
Tau Gamma Phi is one of the 14 accredited fraternities and sororities at PSU.
PSU acting president Erlinda Ganapin cleared the university of any responsibility for Sequeña’s death. "It happened on a Sunday," she said. "It happened outside the premises of the university."
Fe Ricon, PSU dean of the student affairs, said the accreditation process of fraternities in the university includes an agreement between her office and the fraternity to denounce hazing practices.
Adel Abia, coordinator of student activities at PSU, said the Tau Gamma Phi did not inform the student affairs office that there would be a fraternity activity to recruit new members. He said fraternities are required to seek approval from their office before they can conduct recruitment of new members.
He added that officers and members of the Tau Gamma Phi are well-informed about the school’s anti-hazing law.
"In fact, I had personally given each accredited fraternity of the university a copy of the anti-hazing law," Abia claimed. – Claudio Daquer Jr.