A toothless law

Nine years ago today, Ateneo Law School sophomore Leonardo Villa died from injuries he suffered during initiation rites of the Aquila Legis fraternity. The case led to the passage of the Anti-Hazing Law and the indictment of 31 fraternity members. In 1994, 24 of the 31 were sentenced to life imprisonment. While the case is pending before the Court of Appeals, the Caloocan City Regional Trial Court has suspended its hearing of the case against the rest of the accused. None of those convicted has been put behind bars. Meanwhile, Villa's father died in March last year. And his wife Gerarda is bitterly disappointed with the slow pace of justice for their only son.

The Villa case could be one reason the Anti-Hazing Law has failed to deter violent fraternity initiation rites. As Gerarda mourns her loss today, another family grieves for a victim of hazing, this time in the Philippine Military Academy. Von Richthofen Vargas has been in a coma at the V. Luna Medical Center since August last year. PMA officials refer to Vargas as a victim of maltreatment by upperclassmen. Such maltreatment has been going on for years in the country's premier military academy. PMA alumni aren't talking, but the hazing tradition is revealed each time a plebe ends up in the hospital or, worse, in the cemetery.

What's to be gained from hazing? If it's supposed to promote male bonding, it's a brute, primitive bond that has no place in the Information Age. If it's supposed to be some rite of passage to manhood, we shudder to think what kind of men will emerge from such senseless brutality. What sort of beast gets a thrill from inflict-ing harm on a helpless neophyte? Even animals attack only when threatened, and kill only for food or in self-defense.

Why is this dark tradition so hard to break? Perhaps it's a desire to get even: everyone undergoes hazing, so why should the new ones be spared? But fraternity members may think twice before inflicting harm if they see people getting punished for hazing. Apart from those who participated in the hazing, the entire fraternity must be held accountable. In the case of the PMA, the academy's officials must be held accountable for violence during their watch. If the government wants to stop this brutal tradition, it must show that the law against hazing is not a toothless one.