SC upholds hazing conviction

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the landmark conviction of fraternity men under Republic Act 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law.

In a 39-page decision, the second division of the SC affirmed the guilty verdict handed down by the Calamba, Laguna Regional Trial Court Branch 36 on two Alpha Phi Omega (APO) members tagged in the fatal hazing of University of the Philippines Los Baños student Marlon Vilanueva in 2006.

The SC dismissed the petition of accused Dandy Dungo and Gregorio Sibal Jr. assailing their conviction and the penalty of imprisonment of 20 years and one day to 40 years.

Sibal and Dungo, in their petition, insisted that the prosecution failed to prove that they actually participated in the hazing of Villanueva.

They argued that what the prosecution only proved during the trial was that they persuaded Villanueva to join APO and go through the initiation rites.

The SC did not buy such a defense.

Affirming the findings of the trial court, which were also upheld earlier by the Court of Appeals, the SC held that the two did not only induce the victim, they also accompanied him to the venue of the final initiation rites.

“The hazing would not have been accomplished were it not for the acts of the petitioners that induced the victim to be present,” read the SC ruling penned by Associate Justice Jose Mendoza.

“Secrecy and silence are common characteristics of the dynamics of hazing,” the high court said, adding that to require the prosecutor to indicate the step-by-step planned initiation rite when details are almost nil “would be an arduous task if not downright possible.”

Aside from the doctors who testified on the injuries sustained and the cause of death of the victim, the prosecution presented the security guards on duty when Villanueva was brought to hospital, the sari-sari store owner in front of the resort where the initiation rite was held, the tricycle driver who brought the three to the hospital, the policeman who took Dungo and Sibal from the hospital for questioning, a UPLB student who said she saw the victim being punched by Dungo on campus and the caretaker of the resort.

While there was no witness or other evidence presented to prove their direct participation, the sequence of circumstantial evidence or the series of facts presented by the prosecution showed the guilt of the accused, the SC stressed.

“In the absence of direct evidence, the prosecution may resort to adducing circumstantial evidence to discharge its burden. Crimes are usually committed in secret and under conditions where concealment is highly probable. If direct evidence is insisted on under all circumstances, the prosecution of vicious felons who commit heinous crimes in secret or secluded places will be hard, if not impossible to prove,” it said.

It stressed that there were evidence that Dungo and Sibal brought the victim to the venue of the final initiation rites, where Villanueva sustained injuries that led to his death.

“The unbroken chain of events laid down leaves us no other conclusion other than the petitioners’ participation in the hazing… With the fact of hazing, the identity of the petitioners and their participation therein duly proven, the moral certainty that produces conviction in an unprejudiced mind has been satisfied,” the SC added.