By Dang Samson Garcia
SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Thursday called on authorities to arrest and ensure the swift prosecution of those who took part in the initiation rites that killed a student, Ahldryn Leary Bravante.
Zubiri said all those involved in the hazing of the 25-year-old student of the Philippine College of Criminology in Manila should spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
“The full force of the law must come down on those soulless people who killed the same person they claim to be as their brother,” he fumed. “We should put an end to these acts of savagery. Let’s ensure that those who mock our system of justice would be made to account for their misdeeds.”
The senator said the latest incident of fraternity violence was appalling, as it happened barely eight months after the hazing death of John Matthew Salilig.
At least 12 fraternity members were said to be behind Bravante’s death, including four who were already in police custody.
“This senseless death of another young student due to barbaric fraternity tradition is not only enraging, but frustrating as well as it happened despite our efforts to put more teeth to the law against fraternity hazing,” Zubiri said.
The Senate chief pushed for the passage of Republic Act RA 11053, or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018, after Horacio “Atio” Castillo III, then a freshman law student at the University of Santo Tomas, was beaten to death by members of Aegis Juris fraternity in 2017.
