Nemenzo urges end to ‘culture of violence’
MANILA, Philippines -- As the University of the Philippines (UP) community continued to rage, Quezon City police have promised a thorough investigation into the death of graduating UP Diliman Public Administration student Cris Anthony Mendez, allegedly from hazing.
At the same time, former UP president Francisco "Dodong" Nemenzo called on fraternities, sororities and other organizations throughout the entire UP system to stop the "culture of violence."
Superintendent Franklin Mabanag, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) said they are working with the UP police on additional evidence that might establish whether Mendez was indeed a victim of hazing, which has been outlawed.
Officials of the Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame have refused to release Mendez' autopsy report.
Mendez was brought to the Veteran's Memorial Medical Center by a certain Dr. Francisco Cruz Monday last week and was declared dead on arrival. Reports said Mendez' body bore bruises in his legs and shoulders.
Mendez was reportedly recruited into the Sigma Rho fraternity, which has neither denied nor confirmed this. Sigma Rho members have since been suspended and have not been seen in the UP Diliman campus.
"These fraternities and organizations must police their own ranks because the name of the fraternity is also tarnished. They will surely have difficulty recruiting new members," Nemenzo told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.
Nemenzo, himself a fraternity member, said those behind the alleged hazing must face the consequences of their actions.
"The Grand Archon [head] of Sigma Rho has command responsibility over this. I cannot and would not believe the Grand archon was not aware," he added.
Nemenzo acknowledged it would be hard to change the culture of fraternities but said there are ways to prevent cases such as Mendez'.
Nemenzo said fraternity advisers and university officials must be able to monitor the groups' activities. He suggested a young university official who could also be a fraternity alumnus.
"UP students are enraged by authoritative figures. Even the fraternity adviser does not know about this hazing. There should be someone that could relate to them, someone who they would not regard as person in authority," he said.
Nemenzo also said the UP community must take part in the investigation, especially probable witnesses from the Sigma Rho fraternity.
"Every time it happens, the UP community is mad. We just never learn from our mistakes," Nemenzo lamented.
As a member of a fraternity, I would have wished that this article would have at least cited that some fraternities and sororities have long before addressed this problem. It is unfair for us who have been pursuing various measures in eradicating the culture of violence during initiations to be put together in the same light as those irresponsible student organizations.
ReplyDeletegrabe paulit-ulit na lang noh? nauungkat lang ang ganyan kapag may namamatay. dapat ireview na rin ang anti-hazing law. tsk tsk. naalala ko na naman si along...
ReplyDeletesad sad sad
ReplyDeleteIndeed some fraternities, sororities and organizations have taken measures to stop the culture of violence, but I guess Nemenzo's statement doesn't say that he is including "those who are pursuing non-violent practices are irresponsible. It's a call, to all frats, soros and organizations even acad orgs. It's a call for everyone to promote a culture of life and not violence. It is not just limited to your own org. If you are pursuing non-violent measures, then that's great, no need to express disappointment about not being cited. Rather, promote it to your fellow franternities, sororities, organizations and to everyone.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is one of our problem. UP students are enraged by authoritative figures. We never really recognize authority. We think we can always get away with something. Laws have existed and somehow we still break them. Why? We don't recognize authority. What are laws if they are not to be followed. Kahit gaano pa kaganda ung law, as long as a person has a problem with attitude towrds it, it would never be effective. If we don't have internal governance, there would be more external governance to be set up, thus more of our rights can be violated.
ReplyDeleteHaba na nito. Bottomline. Internal governance. Stop the culture of violence. And to those who will be joining frats, you must know what your getting into. You know that there can be hazing, you know you might get hurt or even die. :) Let's be responsible. :)
naalala ko rin si Along dito sa pangyayaring ito. nasa [p] ka pa noon di ba ate thea? tsk.tsk. tsk. haayy...nakakalungkot talaga at graduating pa naman...
ReplyDeleteWoah, are you being defensive Pedro? Sorry but I would have to agree with Kix's comment. While we are thankful that some fraternities are "pursuing measures to eradicate the culture of violence," it is an undeniable fact that fraternities have initiation rites. Wala bang hazing sa Upsilon? Come on! Do you expect me to believe that? :) And Dodong was calling on all kinds of organizations, unlike what you are trying to imply. I can give you Dodong's number and you can even ask him what he meant. :) No offense ha. :) Thanks for commenting :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kix. And for the first time, I agree with you. hahaha! Nakakamiss ang letters to the editor from the USC! :)
ReplyDeletetotoo paulit ulit lang. we never learn. i want to pursue along's story but im too far from LB, ang hirap asikasuhin. :(
ReplyDeleteyup nasa [P] pa ako. :( Diba we made a spread pa nga and Oli, Jay and I went to Calamba Jail? I guess that was my first taste of the ugly world. Imagine. pumunta kami jail ng 3 am para lang makapaglabas ng wall news 7 am the next day? I miss [p]! hehe :) nagkikita kita kami kahapon, post ko pics in a while. :)
ReplyDeletehaha!!! Hey thea!! You still owe me an article, sabi mo babawi ka dun sa BLUE magic na article! hahaha!
ReplyDelete