UPAlumni.net

Source: UP-NCPAG

The death of Cris Anthony Mendez, a student of the National College of Public Administration and Governance at the University of the Philippines, as a result of hazing in the hands of unknown parties during a fraternity initiation rite, dishonors everything we believe in and stand for as citizens and as members and friends of NCPAG.

An innocent life that was so full of promise was senselessly snuffed out by the forces of barbarism and violence that have managed to coexist with academic freedom and the search for excellence on campus. This death disfigures the very concept of university education, and the very ideals publicly professed by the fraternity involved. It is a contradiction that once and for all must be purged out of university life.

We condemn in the strongest terms the violence that led to Mendez’s death, and we demand that justice be served. We call on the officers of the fraternity, as a matter of duty, to exert every effort to make sure that those responsible for the violence be identified and prosecuted. We call on the entire fraternity, as a matter of honor, to make adequate reparations to the family of the victim whose irreparable loss we all deeply grieve.