THE BRUTAL torture, abuse, beating and savage attack on a young man Ahldryn Lery Chua Bravante, a 25-year-old fourth-year student from Imus, Cavite in the Philippine College of Criminology, caused his death last Monday, 16th October 2023.
He is number 59 on the incomplete list of Filipino hazing murder victims, according to Wikipedia.
The beating of Ahldryn and another student happened during a so-called initiation rite by the fraternity Tau Gamma Phi who is now allegedly responsible for at least three known murders by hazing.
The killing occurred in an abandoned warehouse in Quezon City, according to a police report which said that besides multiple bruises sustained from a sustained beating with a wooden paddle (the murder instrument later recovered from the river), there were even marks of burns and bite marks.
It seems the suspected hazers, torturers (at least 14 of them) when invested with unlimited power and authority over other seemingly ordinary kind human beings turn into frenzied animals or zombie-like creatures happy to enjoy burning and torturing by inflicting pain and some even biting their victims’ bodies.
Four of the group are in police custody and the police are searching for 10 others. It was a group crime which all participated in, approved and are allegedly accessories to murder.
But will any of them be even charged and found guilty? That is most unlikely. The power and influence of the Tau Gamma Phi nationwide membership is enough to allegedly place the student members and their evil actions above the law.
Some members of a fraternity are powerful people in business and government that can intimidate any prosecutor or judge who may be compelled to find a lack of evidence to charge any member or find anyone guilty. There will be a large pay-off or threat to the family of the victim and that will be the end of it.
Another student victim of hazing by Tau Gamma Phi is Adamson College student John Matthew Salilig who was also killed by brutal torture and hazing last February 18, 2023 in Biñan, Laguna. He sustained at least 70 blows to the body that proved fatal. There is no news that any of the participants in his killing were in fact charged before the court in Binan, Laguna or convicted.
Another student Guillo Cesar Servando of the De La Salle- College of St. Benilde was killed during the June 28, 2014 initiation rites by Tau Gamma Phi. Three other students suffered grave beatings and violent physical assault but survived.
The signing into law of Republic Act No.11053 in 2018, the Anti-Hazing Act, completely prohibits hazing and says “all forms of hazing shall be prohibited in fraternities, sororities, and organizations in schools, including citizens’ military training and citizens’ army training.”
It also says that other non-school-based fraternities, sororities, and organizations are also forbidden to hold such initiation rites and the law imposes strong penalties to violators.
There are those who are above any law. More than two decades since the enactment of the Anti-Hazing Law, only one has even been convicted of the heinous crime. (To be continued)/PN
