Last May 15, Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Honorario Guanlao dismissed the case against 12 members of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity
involved in the death of Guillo Servando, a sophomore student of De La Salle College of St. Benilde (CSB).
In his resolution, Guanlao stated that the prosecution failed to provide evidence that supported the claim that Servando was hazed for
admission into the aforementioned fraternity. Failure to aver this crucial ingredient would prevent successful prosecution of the criminal
responsibility of the accused, it read.
On the side of the proponents, Atty. Leo Benedicto, lawyer of the Servando family, claimed that the Judges decision rested on technical
conditions, such as the words used. In his statement, Benedicto noted that the judge was looking for the words used in a previous Supreme
Court decision in December 2015 that stated, The action that led to the death must be a prerequisite for membership in a fraternity, sorority,
etc. However, the proponents instead used the phrase in the final initiation of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity of St. Benilde, which Benedicto
believed implies the same meaning.
Aurelio Servando, father of the victim, expressed his disappointment with the decision of Judge Guanlao. I was very heartbroken. Imagine
the agony of seeing your son die because of this useless tradition of hazing. This clearly shows how difficult it is to prosecute hazing cases
despite the Anti-Hazing Law, he said in a report from The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
On June 27, 2014, Servando died in what is believed to be a hazing ritual for admission into Tau Gamma Phi. Three other students were
harmed during the same incident.
After a complaint from Aurelio, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Makati City Police filed a case against 20 suspects for violating
the Anti-Hazing Law or Republic Act (RA) 8049.
Passed in 1995, RA 8049 was enacted after the death of Leni Revilla, a student from Ateneo de Manila University.
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