Promise of brotherhood to sentence of death: analysis of hazing and the anti-hazing law of 2018 (RA11053) in the Philippines

Abstract

Deaths during initiation rites or hazing are perturbingly shifting from isolated cases to perennial contents of our daily news. Elevating its relevance as an international issue, it causes the public to suddenly decry deterrence, and organizations pressure immediate recourse. As such, oscillating between the regulation and prohibition of hazing, States legislate laws and policies as reactive measures in preventing these tragedies as directed by these societal pressures. Likewise, in the Philippines, the Anti-Hazing Law (RA8049) was recently amended into the Anti-Hazing Law of 2018 (RA11053) to prohibit hazing. The outright deterrence instead of mere regulation of the practice is deemed by the institution of law-making as the response to rectify these increasing deaths. This presents the scrutiny of the rationale of this policy of prohibition against a practice that continually exacerbates into forms of activities and behaviors that are uncontrollable and violent. The capability of the prohibition to counter against a practice that kills is problematized. This study intends to perceive this problem in an approach wherein attempts of understanding the amendment and prohibition of hazing are tantamount to the relevance of understanding hazing itself, for what it truly is, and what constitutes it. That amidst the hegemonic negative perception of the practice, the need to re-examine our understanding of it arises. This exploratory inquiry will thus focus in the importance of examining hazing in the reality those involved with it construct. That the practice equates into a reality wherein the cultures of Greekletter organizations (GLOs) and the role of institutions such as universities, within which they operate, both contribute. To solve the increasing deaths, it is necessary to understand and explain that what’s causing it is real and will not cease to harm by outright prohibition. Ultimately, legislations and its pursuit to redress the negative effects of hazing shall remain futile, until the reality of the practice is fully realized and incorporated.