EDITORIAL - Hazing in a pandemic

With the easing of pandemic restrictions comes the return of close-contact abominable acts. In Kalayaan, Laguna last Sunday, an 18-year-old student died in what police believe was a hazing rite conducted by members of the Tau Gamma fraternity.

Reymarc Rabutazo was declared dead on arrival at a hospital in Pakil town where he was rushed reportedly after drowning in a river in Barangay San Juan. Probers said his body bore signs of severe beating.

A member of the fraternity has since surrendered while another was arrested following Rabutazo’s death. At least seven other fraternity members are being hunted down.

While dealing with this case, authorities should look deeper into the activities of Tau Gamma. The fraternity also figured in another fatal hazing incident in September last year, wherein the victim was a Grade 10 high school student from San Enrique town in Negros Occidental. The fraternity had reportedly rejected the application for membership of the victim when he was 17 years old. But when he turned 18 on Sept. 3, police said he had a drinking spree with several fraternity members at his home, after which he was taken to another place blindfolded and underwent violent hazing. On Sept. 8, the victim told his mother he felt ill, and finally narrated that he had been repeatedly hit with a paddle on the buttocks by the fraternity members. He died the next day.

This was at the height of the Delta-driven COVID surge in Metro Manila and several other areas. Maybe the Tau Gamma members had a serious case of pandemic cabin fever, and had an uncontrollable urge to unleash their inner beast.

Too many youths have died in this country from senseless beatings at the hands of peers supposedly in the name of brotherhood. A law that merely regulated hazing has been replaced by one that expressly prohibits it and imposes tough penalties even on school administrators who fail to do their part in preventing the clandestine initiation activities. Rabutazo’s fatal beating shows that more effort is needed to protect the lives of youths from death at the hands of their “brothers.”