Duterte signs stricter Anti-Hazing Law
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has signed the Anti-Hazing Law that imposes harsher penalties on violators.
Signed on June 29 was Republic Act (RA) 11053, or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018.
Copies of RA 11053 were sent to the media only on Wednesday.
The law, which amended the 22-year-old RA 8049, bans all forms of hazing practiced by fraternities and sororities and other organizations, and regulates other so-called initiation rites.
Life imprisonment and a fine of P3 million will be meted on those who participate in hazing rites that lead to death, rape, sodomy or mutilation of a neophyte.
The law gained traction in 2017 after the fatal hazing of Horacio Castillo 3rd, a law school freshman from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
Castillo was found dead in a morgue by his family on September 17 last year. Castillo had attended initiation rites conducted by the Aegis Juris fraternity.
He died of cardiac arrest triggered by traumatic injuries.
Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Benigno Paolo Aquino 4th had filed Senate Resolutions 504 and 519, respectively, calling for probes of the death of Castillo.
The Senate Committee on Public Order pushed for the disbarment and resignation of Dean Nilo Divina of the UST Faculty of Civil Law. Divina is an alumnus of the Aegis Juris fraternity.
Arvin Balag, Ralph Trangia, Oliver John Audrey Onofre, Mhin Wei Chan, Hans Matthew Rodrigo, Joshua Joriel Macabali, Axel Munro Hipe, Marcelino Bagtang, Jose Miguel Salamat and Robin Ramos, members of the fraternity, surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation on March 23, after the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered their arrest.
Two months later, the 10 accused were transferred to the Manila City Jail.
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