Fraternities just need to OUTGROW this senseless initiation rites.

If their ideals are really progressive, as Ive read elsewhere, then Im certain that there are other more human ways of initiating kids into supposedly brotherhood or sisterhood. Because, frankly, I dont see any camaraderie when they just dumped Cris at the hospital and disappeared from the face of the earth. Thats just outright cowardice. But bear in mind, fraternities and sororities are not all the same. Let us not judge so hastily. As a member of a nationalist and alternative sisterhood, we stand together in condemning the barbaric acts of hazing and frat wars. We should mobilize the youth into becoming more responsible and critical citizens of this country instead of lining them up as punching bags. We do not mold future leaders by taking away their right to live and stripping away their potentials. Fraternity and sorority members, let us prove them wrong by serving society and fighting the real demons of the prevailing oppressive structure that has tolerated hierarchy and abuse to the weak. Break away from the tradition! Rebel for the worthy cause! If we are to die, it is better to pass away as heroes and not just victims Let us recall the victims of political killings who had served the people selflessly and fought courageously for till the very end. These are those we should look up to and not the known frat or soro alumni in their comfy seats in the administration. On joining frats and soros, choose and act wisely, isko Align with an organization which would not leave you for dead but would advance your character and productivity through a life-long brotherhood and sisterhood and unified commitment to serve the people. Cover up Another iskolar ng bayan has fallen, and another injustice is to be born. As the University mourns for the death of another fraternity neophyte who was once known as Cris Anthony Mendez and whose body was found black and blue on the morgue of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, a cover up looms and is about to strike and insult the iskolars ng bayan, once again. As the media starts to shift its attention to other much more popular issues, and the university sits still, doing nothing further but to give a preventive suspension to the leaders of the Sigma Rho fraternity while trying to do something that for them is called investigation , and leaving the matter to some creatures we call as the police , the violent hoodlums who have wretched the body of fourth year NCPAG student Cris Mendez would still be free to roam the outskirts of the university and continue the universitys violent tradition of hazing. The beating and the senseless death of an iskolar ng bayan within the realms of the University of the Philippines has happened more than once, and a significant number of fraternities within the university such as the Alpha Phi Beta, Alpha Phi Omega, Beta Sigma, Scintilla Juris, Upsilon Sigma Phi and other traditional and well known fraternities each had a victim of this senseless sadistic practice. Each and every time, the victim is an iskolar ng bayan whose tuition is paid for by the taxes of the people, and who has been grown and raised by their parents through blood and sweat, and who is only to be killed by his supposedly would be brothers who has fed him with bull that timeless brotherhood could be won through pain and blood . Whats worse is the fact that, each and every one of these fraternities lived and got away with it, they continue to thrive, and roam the campus with their arrogance, and the thinking that their broad connections and rich alumni imply that they could act as gods. Yet these incidents and orientations are only manifestations of the societys and the universitys backward and feudal culture, the culture of the padrino or the gangster-like godfather system, in which money and power significantly correlate, and by which people could be silenced, through money, through harassment, or through death. The universitys administration seems to have always taken the wrong path in dealing with its problems, taking a reactive rather than a proactive approach to stop the death and the violence in the university, only acting if someone has already been beaten, only acting if someone has already been kidnapped, only acting if someone has already been killed. If the university had only taken measures such as fixing the loopholes on the university rules and regulations, and giving a closer check at the rights to passage as well as the organizational rules of fraternities, sororities and other organizations, incidents such as Cris death could have been prevented. Yet the University Administration has given more priority to the establishment of call centers, establishment of mobile telecommunication sites, and other money making measures than the welfare of the iskolars ng bayan. As the Sigma Rho fraternity remains silent over the issue of Cris death, the university as well as other self righteous individuals from the media takes advantage of the hype to cover up other issues within the university, such as the demolition of communities in Pook Ricarte, Palaris and Dagohoy, the tuition and other fee increases, the oppression of campus press freedom, and other significant issues which threaten the rights of each and every iskolar ng bayan. The issue of the Sigma Rho fraternitys silence has also been used to distract the people from other national issues such as the Hello, Garci trial against the stone-faced, fake president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. We, as iskolars ng bayan, as students privileged to have our tuition be paid for by the farmers, workers, our parents and the people, must collectively stand against hazing, rumble and other fraternity violence. We should condemn such cover ups and barbaric acts of senseless violence while being critical against the universitys and the governments repressive acts. We should remain vigilant against such backward, feudal, and sadistic practices of such individuals and groups who have no one and nothing to think about but themselves. We must stand together in seeking for justice and truth for all the victims of fraternity violence, for no justice could be won in this system which only honors those with fat pockets, and those who hold the string.