By
Liling Magtolis Briones
From ABS-CBN Interactive
September 10, 2007
When
I asked my graduate students how the death of Cris Anthony Mendez
had affected them Lyndon despondently answered, “Ang hirap
ma’am, for those of us who are working! Our officemates
are chiding us, ‘What are you U.P. people doing? You are
wasting our tax money!”
Why
should a column on business and governance be engrossed with fraternity-related
deaths? Good question.
When I asked my graduate students how the death of Cris Anthony
Mendez had affected them Lyndon despondently answered, “Ang
hirap ma’am, for those of us who are working! Our officemates
are chiding us, ‘What are you U.P. people doing? You are
wasting our tax money!”
Right. Taxpayers have a right to know how their taxes are being
spent. Many businessmen come from the state university. A significant
number are fratmen, send their children to U.P. and entrust their
precious children to their brods and sis’es.
The NCPAG Faculty Council statement. Last Wednesday,
September 5, 2007 the Faculty Council of the U.P. National College
of Public Administration and Governance presented a statement
announcing withdrawal of recognition for Ariel Paolo Ante as president
of the NCPAG Student Council. The Faculty Council also urged university
authorities to exhaust all administrative and legal means to expel
him from the University.
The Faculty Council statement triggered a corresponding resolution
from the NCPAG Student Council. The NCPAG Alumni Association likewise
issued a strongly worded statement calling on the officers of
the fraternity involved in the hazing “to make sure that
those responsible for the violence be identified and prosecuted.”
NCPAG is a fairly small college and the undergraduates are very
close to each other. The students knew the circumstances leading
to the death of Cris. They know the fraternity involved and the
personalities who lured Cris to the initiation.
The long road to justice for Cris. The University
Legal Counsel noted that it takes at least three to four years
to prosecute and bring a case to a successful conclusion.
The legal route is only one of the dimensions of the campaign
to bring justice for Cris. It will be expected that those who
are believed to be guilty of his brutal death will resort to all
tricks from its formidable array of legal expertise. In the meantime
how can the campaign be sustained?
The role of media. Without media, the campaign
for an end to fraternity violence cannot be sustained. It was
the media which reported Cris’ death and pinpointed the
Sigma Rho fraternity, based on accounts of students who were with
him on the afternoon before his initiation.
It is to the credit of media that public interest has been sustained
inspite of other gripping national events.
The role of the investigators. The process of
prosecution cannot be initiated without findings from the investigators
which will be the basis for the filing of cases. At present, they
are facing a blank wall because a witness they had identified
has withdrawn his declaration.
Discussion boards and blogs offer information which, if confirmed,
can help identify the guilty and track them down.
Even as they fear for their lives and families, more young people
have expressed willingness to testify.
The role of NCPAG. The college has lost three
of its promising sons. It needs to exercise tighter regulation
over student organizations and ban troublesome fraternities if
necessary. It must help Cris’ family as they go through
the complex process of obtaining justice.
How can the faculty teach governance if legal procedures will
be used not to pursue justice but to obstruct it? How can they
teach honesty to their students if the truth is covered up in
front of their very eyes?
The role of the university authorities. Prof.
Florin Hilbay of the UP College of Law is proposing that the university
consider selective bans on organizations with a history of violence.
The role of Sigma Rho alumni and icons. During
the last student elections, NCPAG and the entire UP campus was
flooded with huge Sigma Rho posters containing pictures of leading
icons, e.g. Salonga, Drilon, Angara, etc. The message was that
Sigma Rho has an array of distinguished national leaders, including
two justices of the Supreme Court.
Indeed, Sigma Rho has produced leaders who are respected for their
towering intellect and formidable achievements. It is time for
them to return to the campus and help identify the guilty. Events
before and after the incident point to the fraternity. Surely,
their brods will not lie to them even as they refuse to talk to
university and government authorities. They can do no less.
Like Hercules, they must undertake the gigantic task of cleaning
their Augean stables. They need to ferret out the truth and act
on the basis of that truth.
One young life. In a matter of days, public interest in Cris may
wane.
However, let us not forget that one young life which was brutally
destroyed before its glorious promise could be fulfilled. Let
us not forget Cris Anthony Mendez.
(Ms.
Leonor Briones is a former National Treasurer of the Philippines.
She is currently teaching public administration at the University
of the Philippines. She also writes a column for the Business
Mirror)
Other
Feature articles:
-Of
Command and commandeered votes
-Coming
soon: young bureaucracy?
-What
to do the morning after the night before
-Out
Where the Country Begins
-Questions
Begging for Answers
-Attaining
the MDGS: Are We Really On Track?
-The
sky is not falling?
