EDITORIAL - An insane tradition

This is celebration, Philippine Military Academy style: find a fourth-class cadet, beat him with a three-foot-long lead pipe and shower him with punches. That’s what Cadet Edward Domingo apparently suffered Saturday night in the hands of four PMA upperclassmen as part of a bizarre "celebration" after cadets learned that they had passed their academic subjects. Internal bleeding led to cardiac arrest. Hours later, Domingo’s mother Leoning was fetched from her home in Camiling, Tarlac and brought to the PMA Station Hospital where her son lay dead.

The only positive development here is that police immediately apprehended four suspects: Third Class Cadets John Louie Ong, Michael Berang, Willard Aperocho and Omar Julius Labajo. The four may own up to the hazing, but they may never be able to explain why it had to happen at all. Maj. Gen. Manuel Carranza Jr., PMA superintendent, could only say that the illegal "celebration" was part of the school’s tradition. If cadets undergo hazing merely for passing their academic subjects, you can be sure the notorious practice conti-nues to be a tradition among freshmen in their first days at the PMA.

Naturally, President Arroyo ordered hazing stopped once and for all in the country’s premier military academy. But she’s not the first commander-in-chief to issue this order. Civilians have always been horrified and puzzled by this barbaric tradition that must have been handed down from the days of our cave-dwelling ancestors. It’s an orgy of bestiality that is practiced not only in the PMA but in other learning institutions such as law schools and the University of the Philippines.

Over the years hazing has claimed the lives of scores of young men, yet the practice persists. Maybe boys who can’t handle the rush of youthful testosterone feel an urge to bond with the animal kingdom, although animals kill only in self-defense or for survival. Maybe after more than a decade of parental pampering, boys need to declare their independence by indulging in an orgy of blood and gore. There are also those who offer a simpler explanation: boys who underwent hazing in their freshman year need to take it out on the next batch, no matter how violently insane the tradition may be. Why should the younger ones get off lightly?

The only hope of breaking this ugly tradition is to come down hard on the beasts who indulge in it. The govern-ment’s record, however, has not been encouraging. Consider the case of Ateneo law student Lenny Villa. Where are his accused killers, all members of the Aquila Legis fraternity? Being coddled by their fraternity brothers who are in positions of influence. To fight hazing in the PMA, the administration can invoke command responsibility. If the superintendent can’t stop this mindless slaughter, he has no business running the school.