Cycle of violence

After University of Sto. Tomas law school freshman Horacio “Atio” Castillo III died in hazing rites at the hands of Aegis Juris fraternity members, his black Honda Civic sat in the family’s garage with its front facing out.

Atio’s father Horacio “Toti” Jr. kept the only set of keys to the car. One day when the father went to the parking area, he noticed that the car position had switched, with the rear now facing out.

The father and his wife Carmina swear that no one had taken the keys and moved the car. When they checked the closed circuit television camera footage covering the garage, they couldn’t find any scene showing anyone moving the car.

Another detail that the father noticed: Atio liked driving with his body close to the steering wheel. In contrast, the father prefers to lean back a bit and leaves a wide room between the wheel and the driver’s seat. With the switch in the car’s parking, however, the seat had also been moved to Atio’s preferred position.

The Castillos don’t look like superstitious folk, but like many people who have suffered deep personal loss, they seem comforted by the idea that their son can still reach out to them and make his presence felt from the great unknown.

Facing us last week on “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News channel, the couple said their loss remained so fresh it was like their son had died only a month ago. 

Mrs. Castillo became teary eyed when asked if she had any message to other parents. “Hug your kids more,” she replied. “Spend time with your children kasi when they grow up, they’re gonna be more focused on schools, friends. Be there... just be there.”

The couple, together with their only daughter who accompanied them to the TV studio, at least have something to be glad about: President Duterte’s enactment of a new law that seeks to ban rather than merely regulate hazing.

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Atio Castillo was born in 1995, the same year that Republic Act 8049 was signed into law. RA 8049 was passed four years after Ateneo de Manila law school freshman Leonardo Villa died in hazing rites conducted by the Aquila Legis fraternity.   

Rather than ban hazing, however, RA 8049 merely regulated it and effectively ensured that violent initiation rites would continue.

There was also no accompanying measure to improve the administration of justice. It took 21 long years before a final ruling was handed down by the Supreme Court on Lenny Villa’s case. By that time, most of the defendants were off the hook, thanks allegedly to their Aquila Legis fraternity brothers in the judiciary. The female regional trial court judge who initially convicted them found herself facing legal woes. Several of the defendants went on to become lawyers and some even joined government.

It is said that losing one’s child is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone. No one should wish this fate even on one’s enemy. Still, people would likely consider it poetic justice if the children of Lenny Villa’s killers would one day become hazing victims themselves.

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Will litigation move quicker in the case of Atio Castillo? At this point, his bereaved parents seem hopeful. They are encouraged by the new law signed recently by President Duterte, RA 11053, which bans physical and psychological hazing, widens accountability and imposes tougher penalties including life in prison and up to P3 million in fines.

The problem with laws in this country, of course, has always been enforcement.

Bernadette Herrera Dy, Bagong Henerasyon party-list representative who was the principal author of the anti-hazing measure in the House of Representatives, told “The Chiefs” that RA 11053 has provisions that encourage better enforcement. These include requirements for schools to monitor and regularly submit reports on the activities of fraternities, sororities and other campus organizations.

Criminal liability has also been widened to impose tough penalties on those who conceal hazing rites, including school authorities and owners of houses or establishments where the rites are held. Also accountable are passive participants, or those present at the hazing who don’t directly take part in inflicting harm on the neophyte, but do nothing to stop the violence.

Dy pointed out that the new law differentiates hazing from initiation rites, which are still allowed. Perhaps they should have changed the word “initiation,” because this can be misinterpreted as easily as the “regulation” of hazing that was provided for under RA 8049.

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Hazing, by its nature, has always been conducted clandestinely, with its illicit nature seeming to increase its appeal. Even before RA 8049, the country already had laws against physical injuries, homicide and murder. And yet fraternity members kept breaking the law. Ironically, among the biggest lawbreakers have been law school fraternities. This should say a lot about the country’s lawyers.

I’ve always considered hazing a reverse rite of passage – not from boy to man, but from human to beast. I wish I could say this is a guy thing, but even members of sororities in medical school, pursuing a profession where practitioners are supposed to be bound by the Hippocratic Oath to heal, save lives and do no harm, have joined in the orgy of violence.

Several of the lawmakers who crafted the sham RA 8049 against hazing underwent violent fraternity initiation rites themselves and probably couldn’t stand the thought that the younger generations would be spared from the paddle and punches.

Can RA 11053 break this violent cycle and put an end to the madness? Parents should pray that it does.

Their only other option is to heed Carmina Castillo’s advice: hug your kids more.