Hazing in Baguio, Benguet universities cited
BAGUIO CITY – Youth group Anakbayan Cordillera assailed the possible
introduction of mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC) program in all
public and private senior high schools across the country despite what the
group called “its abusive, violent, and impunity-ridden history.”
At a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte reportedly
approved the proposal of the Department of National Defense to make ROTC
compulsory for all grade 11 and grade 12 students, declaring the move “urgent.”
Luke Bagangan, secretary-general of Anakbayan Cordillera, deemed the
executive move as “absurd and “anti-peace given the fascist culture propagated
by DND and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Whether in the Citizenship
Advancement Training (CAT) or ROTC, the State has largely turned a blind eye on
the cases of hazing, sexual harassment, and corruption.”
He said while suspensions and other disciplinary actions had
occasionally been given to student perpetrators, “institutionalized violations”
remain unaddressed.
Bagangan warned that violations inside ROTC will “escalate” since it is
directly managed by DND and AFP, “who, themselves, are notorious in committing
inhumane acts among their ranks and even upon their supposed constituents”.
Since the said institutions direct the program, Anakbayan Cordillera
said in a statement it “fears the extensive mistreatment of young student enrollees.
The youth leader added that the program will inculcate blind obedience
in the youth instead of genuine nationalism. From time to time, we have heard
complaints of ROTC cadets being mauled in the name of discipline and
patriotism.”
Anakbayan Cordillera cited recent reports of hazing and harassment in
Benguet State University, alongside the history of corruption and abuses across
the country.
From a fact sheet obtained by the group, Willy, a former cadet in the
program at BSU, accused officers and unknown alumni of mauling and hitting him
and his fellow students with wooden rifles.
“Corps Commander Baguiwan directed us to remove all our clothes and then
to masturbate,” he narrated.
According to Willy, the said incident happened in the second semester of
2014, when he was still pursuing advanced courses in ROTC.
He noted the decrease of enrollees in the program from almost 60 in the
first semester to only 20 in the second, apparently due to the incidents of
hazing.
In addition, Willy said that only one cadet was able to finish the said
training.
“Hazing in the ROTC is not an isolated case in the Cordillera,” added
Bagangan, citing the case of Saint Louis University student and ROTC cadet
Arthur Salero who reportedly died of hazing in 1999.
Two reported cases of hazing also happened in the University of the
Cordilleras (UC) in 1999 and 2000, and another in the University of the
Philippines Baguio (UPB) in 2000.
Bagangan also feared the efforts of the AFP in conducting surveillance
on progressive student organizations by recruiting cadets in the Student
Intelligence Network (SIN).
“Along with the President’s pronouncements, these incursions are not
coincidental with the termination of peace talks between the government and the
revolutionary movement and the declaration of all-out war,” he explained.
The youth leader claimed that mandatory ROTC will further scaffold the
State’s intent to silence the struggle of the people, as it has tried to
through Oplan Bayanihan and now, Oplan Kapayapaan.
“Service to the basic masses instills genuine nationalism, and the ROTC
– with its abusive, violent, and impunity-ridden nature – will never be able to
accomplish this,” Bagangan said.
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