“I Lost My Son to Hazing”: A Look Back at 5 of the Most Talked-about Fraternity Crimes in the Philippines

Photo by Karl Sinfield via flickr creative commons

Fraternity violence has been a matter of national concern since the early 1990s. Not a few parents have lost their sons due to accidental death by hazing despite the passage of the Anti-Hazing Law. Today, 20 years later, even with the bereaved parents’ cries for justice, these senseless rituals persist in the name of “brotherhood”.

Through it all, it’s the victim’s parents who are most aggrieved. We look back at some of the most talked about hazing cases in the Philippines in recent years, and honor the victims’ parents fight for justice, amidst politics, their grief, anger, and devastation.

1. Aurelio Servando, father of Guillo Cesar Servando, who passed away on June 28, 2014:

(Photos from abs-cbnnews.com and  inquirer.net)

“Goodbye for now, my handsome boy.

“There’s still the pain, especially every time I look at his picture, see his things. The pain comes back and you have to exert effort to hold your tears back.” (philstar.com)

 “I would like to ask them: ‘Why did you have to inflict so much pain on my son? Did you ever control it? Did you ever stop and realize that instead of bringing him back to the condo, if you brought him to the hospital, he might be still alive today? I would like to ask them why,”

“And it’s in the hands of a bunch of animals who did not deserve to have control of my son’s life,” Aurelio said. (philstar.com)

The heartbreaking facts:

  On the evening of June 28, 2014, Guillo Cesar Servando, 18, a second year Hotel and Restaurant Management student at the De La Salle College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB), was found dead inside a condo unit.

Guillo, along with three other DLS-CSB students, had undergone initiation rites for the fraternity Tau Gamma Phi. According to John Paul Raval, one of the survivors, Servando was left for dead after several failed attempts of the fraternity members to revive him. Raval has also identified the fraternity members present during the initiation rites.

Watch the GMA News TV report here (warning: graphic content):

Case status: Investigations ongoing

As of July 4, Friday, Makati City Police Chief Superintendent Manuel Lucban explained that there was a delay in the filing of the cases because they had not yet gathered all the statements of the suspects and neophytes. (inquirer.net)

Main photo (blindfolded man) from democratandchronicle.com