Ateneo law freshman in hospital after hazing

MANILA, Philippines - A 22-year-old freshman of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) College of Law was rushed to the Medical City in Pasig on Wednesday because of severe injuries supposedly incurred from hazing during initiation rites of a campus fraternity.

The student told his attending physicians at the hospital that he sustained the injuries from the hazing required as a rite of passage to the Fraternal Order of Utopia. 

The student was still confined as of yesterday. The STAR tried to get comment from the victim but was out of reach as of press time yesterday.

The victim is enrolled in the Juris Doctor program of the ADMU College of Law and earned an AB Communications degree from the university.

Utopia is one of the two fraternities based in the university, the other is the Aquila Legis that earned notoriety in 1991 when its neophyte member Lenny Villa died from injuries he suffered during initiation rites.

The Utopia fraternity lists among its members Chief Justice Renato Corona, Supreme Court Justices Roberto Abad and Arturo Brion, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, and former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and son party-list Rep. Mikey Arroyo.