Source: The Journal of the Jester-in-Exile
The University of the Philippines is, sadly, no stranger to fraternity violence. Through the years there has been a tragically ever-increasing count of lives blighted or cut short because of campus or college-based rumbles, the targeting of specific students pointed out as or merely mistaken for offending frat members, and initiation rites that maim and kill. And today, the death of Cris Anthony Mendez as an alleged hazing casualty forces us once again to examine the state of our fragile fraternity peace.
We, the UP College of Law community, our faculty and students, extends our condolences to Cris’ family, and to the academic community he was part of at the National College of Public Administration and Governance. We join as well the many voices calling for justice for Cris. We condemn with great indignation the senselessness of his death, not only as a loss of another Iskolar ng Bayan, but also as a blight on U.P.’s name, and on the Constitutionally-guaranteed right to freely associate with our fellowmen.
The UP College of Law is united in our call for justice. We join the search for truth.
We call upon the U.P. administration and the U.P. Police to pursue the investigation of this crime with utmost care and dispatch, so that the true perpetrators will be brought to justice and accountability in the soonest possible time.
We likewise urge both the House of Representatives and the Senate to review the Anti-Hazing Law and recommend a solution to the ambiguities still evident therein. Such amendatory legislation will be a step closer towards enabling university authorities to hold erring fraternity officials and/or members accountable.
While we do not range ourselves against the fraternities on campus, we oppose the culture of violence that often pervades these associations and brings to naught their vaunted claims of brotherhood and solidarity.
We call on all fraternities to reject the culture of violence. Such culture leads them to unthinkingly strike, not only against the individuals whom they consider outsiders, or longstanding enemies by virtue of belonging to frats not their own, but even against those bright, talented young men whom they seek to enfold as their own. Yes, we urge student organizations, fraternities and sororities to shun away from violence, to live up to the ideals of civility and to discard such practice of barbarism.
We condemn the brutal desecration of life and all acts of torture in the name of brotherhood and acceptance. These must stop. No pain, suffering and agony will measure the worthiness of a person — on the contrary, a system that inflicts harm upon those who wish to enter it, is worthless and shameful. Besides, the time, energy, concentration, persistence, and other physical and mental resources that are wasted in seeking to wreak havoc on rival fraternities and in inflicting pain and humiliation on neophytes are so much better diverted to constructive and concerted efforts to forge a peaceful and progressive environment, both in the U.P. campus and in society at large.
We urge those involved in the alleged hazing of Chris Mendez to shun the cowardly path, and instead steadfastly come forward to shed light on and acknowledge responsibility for his needless death. Your doing so will immeasurably hasten the fact-finding investigation now being undertaken by the law enforcement authorities, and bring speedier closure to this tragedy for his loved ones, friends, and colleagues. This is definitely no time for cowardice; this is a time to break the wall of silence and secrecy. A heinous crime has been committed; human life has been taken. Be men enough… own up to your actions!
As for the U.P. Studentry, we seek you to join us in condemning this heinous crime, and to commit to the process of obtaining justice for Chris by refusing to let friendship or affinity with the persons involved in his death stand in the way of doing the right thing. We plead with you to not to engender within the perpetrators the soul-destroying arrogance of believing they can kill a man and get away with it. We ask you not to hide them or condone their crime.
As we, student bodies and general studentry alike, assist in the investigation in whatever way we can. we ask the public to await the results of the investigation with vigilance tempered with calmness and sobriety. It is best to allow the true facts to emerge from the inquiry and the full story to eventually be known before we pass judgment on the persons linked to Chris’ death. Let the justice that is being claimed for him be a justice that will be bestowed unerringly on his true killers as well.
Let us all be vigilant as a community. Let us remember that the supposed necessity of inflicting and undergoing physical, mental, and psychological suffering, just to belong to the ranks of a brotherhood and share in perks and privileges merely because one is a member, is never worth the snuffing out of a simple, honorable human life. If we are able to remind ourselves daily of this much, we will have made sure that Cris Anthony Mendez did not die in vain.
31 August 2007
UP LAW STUDENT GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE BOARD ’07-‘08
Lorybeth R. Baldrias, CPA
President
Patricia Yvonne M. Caunan
Vice-President
Nancy Aurora D. Quimpo
Secretary
Loverhette Jeffrey P. Villordon
Treasurer
Anya M. Palileo
Public Relations Officer
Ma. Leonila D. Papa
Law Representative to the USC
UP LAW STUDENT GOVERNMENT GENERAL ASSEMBLY ’07-‘08
1A 1B 1C 1D 1E
2A 2B 2C 2D 2E
3A 3B 3C 3E 4E
4A 4B 4C 5E
UP COLLEGE OF LAW BASED ORGANIZATIONS ’07-‘08
JP Laurel Constitutional Society
UP Portia Sorority
UP Women in Law
UP Delta Lambda Sigma
UP Paralegal Volunteers Organization
UP Charivari
UP Law Debate Union
UP Law Christian Fellowship
Schola Juris Vespertina
Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity
Upsilon Sigma Phi
Scintilla Juris Fraternity
(Sigma Rho Fraternity inhibited themselves)