4 more Tau Gamma members surrender

Life term eyed for school, frat officials in hazing

MANILA, Philippines — Four members of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) head office in Manila on Monday, following the death from hazing of 24-year-old Adamson University student John Matthew Salilig.

Cavite police director Col. Christopher Olazo said yesterday over the phone that the four fratmen are temporarily in NBI custody for proper disposition before they are turned over to police authorities.

According to reports, one member, alias Snoop, submitted a narrative report on witnessing the initiation of Salilig and the events afterwards.

Snoop’s lawyer, Maria Antonia Pascual, said her client was present during the important parts of the initiation, from picking up Salilig in Parañaque and during the hazing.

Pascual said Snoop was also a neophyte.

“He was new in the fraternity. He didn’t have a say, he couldn’t do anything and certain threats were made,” she said in Filipino

Another member with the alias “Biggie,” an officer of the fraternity’s San Pedro, Laguna chapter, also turned himself in to investigators, but said he had no involvement in the initiation and was only invited.

The third Tau Gamma Phi member, alias “Void” and also a neophyte of the fraternity, surrendered but has not yet spoken about the incident.

His lawyer, Basilio Pooten, said that they went to the NBI to execute the affidavit of voluntary surrender.

Meanwhile, an unidentified fourth person of interest surrendered to the NBI and narrated that he was there at the time of the initiation, but for disciplinary reasons.

According to the NBI, the four persons of interest who surrendered will stay under custody until their narrations are complete in order to give a clear timeline, and if their narratives match the available evidence.

Laguna police director Col. Randy Glenn Silvio said he is still encouraging at least eight more persons of interest to surrender and shed light into their alleged participation in the hazing incident.

“If we file the case and include their names, they will be implicated in this case, and they may be issued a warrant of arrest later on, and they will be treated as suspects,” Silvio said.

He said the six previously arrested persons of interest and the master initiator were charged earlier before the Department of Justice.

Senators want stiffer penalty vs hazing

Senators are eyeing stiffer penalties of reclusion perpetua against fraternity officials and elders, administrators of universities, and owners of the property where initiation hazing rites led to the death of a member.

During yesterday’s joint public hearing of the Senate committees on justice and human rights and public order presided by Sen. Francis Tolentino, senators expressed belief that a stiffer penalty will help prevent the senseless death of students joining fraternities like Salilig.

Salilig died in the hands of his Tau Gamma Phi fraternity brothers and his body was found buried in a two-foot-deep grave in Imus, Cavite on Feb. 28, or 10 days after he died.

Tolentino lamented that as the committee set the hearing, another death related to fraternity initiation rites/hazing reportedly occurred in Cebu. He said they have yet to get a clear picture of the Cebu incident.

He put to task school authorities to oversee students’ activities, including fraternities. “They (Adamson University authorities) could have monitored activities of non-recognized organizations.”

Tolentino said the Senate public hearing would help “fine-tune” the amendment of Republic Act 11053. “What we will do here is to fine-tune the law. Help us craft an amendment that would really give teeth to the law so that it doesn’t happen again,” he told the resource persons.

“Differentiation between school-based vis a vis community-based organization conducting initiations should be collapsed. When initiation occurs, they need permits from LGUs, local police, and LGU health office,” Tolentino noted. “No initiation was held in school; it is in the community. The line is murky insofar as school-based or community-based, but the venue is still in far-flung barangays.

“What we need is to pinpoint the responsibility of schools under the loco parenti doctrine (a Latin term for being responsible for a child while the child’s parents are absent),” he added.

“The goal of this committee is to craft a policy… Every time something happens, we change the law. The problem may be how to properly implement the law,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English. “No offense meant, negligence of the school authorities in ensuring that they perform the loco parenti job in looking after the best interest of Matmat Salilig.

“Are we going to ban initiation? Tau gamma has a no contact policy, but it still happened. Are we going to ban initiation or will we give LGU (local government units) the rights to send representatives to approve or disapprove initiations?” he said. – Ed Amoroso, Cecille Suerte Felipe