6 fratmen arrested for hazing 9 minors

CEBU CITY — Police in Minglanilla caught yesterday six members of the Alpha Kappa Omega fraternity while allegedly initiating nine minors, including one as young as 12.

A tip sent police rushing to Sitio Sandayong, Barangay Lipata where they allegedly came upon the hazing rites.

The six fraternity members included the chapters president, 24-year-old George Abordo. They were all brought to the police station along with four of the young boys they were initiating.

The other five scampered away at the approach of the policemen.

Those being initiated are reportedly students of the Tabunok National High School and the East Visayas Academy.

Police officer Gerry Penafort who led the team said they rushed to the scene on getting a call from Lipata-Linao barangay councilman Lino Ong. The police came upon the minors being made to undergo initiation at a dry creek bed.

The four minors who failed to flee are aged between 12 and 16.

The fraternity members who initiated them were also about their age except Abordo, a computer engineering graduate from the Cebu Institute of Technology.

Penafort said the four minors had bruises on their thighs and legs apparently from repeated blows from a paddle, which the police confiscated.

Parents of the victims are planning to sue Abordo and the fraternity.

But when asked by police, the children said they were not harmed by Abordo.

Abordo claimed he was hesitant to accept minors as members but gave in to the applicants own insistence. - Freeman News Service