Commission on Human Rights in Quezon City (File photo by NI脩O JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The (CHR) has started investigating a suspected hazing case in Quezon City, where a 17-year-old student was severely beaten up by his former fraternity brothers last month for joining another group.
In a statement on Saturday, the CHR condemned the incident and said it had directed its investigators in Metro Manila to look into the case.
Police said the minor, who is recuperating from serious injuries at an undisclosed hospital, joined the Scout Royale Brotherhood (SRB), a group formed by former members of Alpha Phi Omega fraternity who are based mostly in San Sebastian College, and quit after a year to transfer to another group called Magic 5.
The victim鈥檚 new fraternity counts among its members students and alumni of the Philippine College of Criminology, according to the Magic 5 website.
The victim鈥檚 transfer, police said, apparently insulted his former fraternity brothers, prompting them to hunt down the victim whom they labeled as 鈥渁 disloyal member.鈥�
Lt. Col. Resty Damaso, commander of Masambong police station in Quezon City, said that on June 16, Romulo Palermo III, president of Magic 5, and two other suspects, identified as Daryl Sanchez and Simon Perez and believed to be members of SRB and another fraternity, confronted the victim at a gasoline station in Barangay Bungad.
Damaso said the suspects then took the victim to Sitio San Roque in Barangay Pagasa supposedly to 鈥渄iscipline鈥� him before he was transferred to what the police described as a 鈥渟hop鈥� on Road 10, where his former fraternity brothers beat him up.
Frat leader nabbed
Despite his injuries, the victim was able to go home that day to Barangay Project 6 but later passed out.
His mother took him to a hospital and sought the help of the police, who later arrested Palermo, 21, at the gasoline station in Bungad.
Reports, however, were not clear why Palermo, the leader of the victim鈥檚 current fraternity, was involved in the hazing.
Damaso said Palermo would face charges of physical injuries, as well as violation of the antichild abuse and antihazing laws. Policemen, he said, were pursuing Sanchez and Perez.
The incident came four months after John Matthew Salilig, a student of Adamson University, died of injuries after undergoing fraternity initiation rites.
Salilig鈥檚 body was found in a shallow grave in the City of Imus, Cavite province, on Feb. 28, 10 days after he went missing.
In March, Department of Justice prosecutors indicted seven members of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity who were linked to Salilig鈥檚 death.
Last year, three students from Laguna, Davao City and Cebu province died in separate hazing incidents.
鈥楻ight to safety and security鈥�
The CHR said hazing 鈥渧iolates the right to safety and security鈥� of individuals and 鈥減oses long-term physical and psychological harm to the victims.鈥�
It urged both the national government as well as schools to impose concrete measures to prevent hazing.
鈥淰iolent acts, especially those which trample on the dignity of minors, despite the presence of the antihazing law and the antichild abuse law, should be condemned,鈥� the commission said.