BY ATTY. JULIUS GREGORY B. DELGADO
DEATH OF ADILI AND BATERBONIA: A CASE OF VIOLATION OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11053 (ANTI-HAZING ACT OF 2018)?
Republic Act No. 8049, otherwise known as the Anti-Hazing Act of 1995, was passed because of the death of Ateneo Law student, Leni Villa, then a neophyte of the Aquila Legis Fraternity. The said law became a toothless tiger as deaths continued to hound colleges and universities for the next decades. Years ago, a student at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law, Horacio “Atio” Morales III, died in the hands of his would-be “Brods” from Aegis Juris Fraternity in an initiation rite. The death of Morales led to the enactment of Republic Act No. 11053, otherwise known as Anti-Hazing Act of 2018, which amended and strengthened the existing law against hazing.
The amendments brought by the new law imposed more stringent penalties on officers, members, alumni and those complicit in the planning and actual conduct of initiation rites where hazing was committed. The said law also requires fraternities, sororities, and organizations to have faculty advisers who are not members of these entities. Also, every initiation requires to undergo posting and permitting requirements of the colleges and universities. In community-based fraternities, sororities, and organizations, these required the presence of at least two (2) barangay officials. The law also imposes liability to those persons tasked to supervise the initiation when they did not prevent or acted to prevent the conduct of hazing during initiation rites. The law also imposes stringent penalties on owners of the house, including parents of members of fraternities, sororities, and organization, who had knowledge or were made aware of the hazing but did not prevent or act to stop the same.
Recently, the tragic death of promising basketball players of the Ateneo De Manila University, Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili, leads to question if the said activity in Dipaculao, Aurora can be considered as a form of hazing under the ambit of the Anti-Hazing Law of 2018. Section 2 (a) of the law defines hazing as “any act that results in physical or psychological suffering, harm, or injury inflicted on a recruit, neophyte, applicant, or member as part of an initiation rite or practice made as a prerequisite for admission or a requirement for continuing membership in a fraternity, sorority, or organization.”
Naturally, the coaches and their lawyers will argue that it is just a pre-season team-building and conditioning activities and what happened was just an accident, criminal negligence at most. However, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) may argue before the Department of Justice that it falls under the ambit of the Anti-Hazing Law of 2018 since the said activity will help determine who makes the final line-up of the Ateneo Blue Eagles for the season, who will stay as reserve players for Team A and who may be relegated to Team B. Another argument the CIDG may advance is that if it is part of pre-season team-building and conditioning activities, why did the Ateneo de Manila University Management categorically stated that the trip was not sanctioned by the University Athletics Office? Besides, several alumni of the Ateneo Blue Eagles described the said rite of passage as a “deadly” activity which the CIDG may argue as a form of hazing to strengthen esprit de corps, camaraderie, and brotherhood along the mantra BEBOB (Blue Eagles Band of Brothers).
The arguments in the preceding paragraph may be a bit of a stretch, but they just might work. Ultimately, it will be the DOJ which will determine probable cause with reasonable certainty of conviction and its ruling may be elevated before the Court of Appeals. There is a clamor for justice all over the country for the tragic end of Divine and Rene. Reckless Imprudence Resulting to Homicide is a slap in the wrist. The people are clamoring to see someone go behind bars. Until the resolution of the DOJ, we all wait and will continue to condole with the bereaved families for their untimely demise.