Reelectionist Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri is calling for the "strict" enforcement of anti-hazing law against members of Tau Gamma Phi fraternity from Laguna following the death of one of its brothers allegedly due to hazing.
Zubiri on Tuesday said in a statement "it is absolutely infuriating how some fraternities are still upholding these barbaric hazing rituals."
That was why he said perpetrators behind the incident "should rot behind bars" because they are "heartless" and what they did was "not brotherhood" but "torture."
Zubiri made the comment after police reported on Monday that 18-year-old student Reymarc Rabutazo died after supposedly undergoing hazing in Kalayaan, Laguna.
“So many young people have already died from hazing, and so many families have been upturned by their loss. And what’s worse is that their deaths have been so completely senseless. These are kids looking for brotherhood and friendship, and this is what they get in return?” the lawmaker asked.
Zubiri, author of the Anti-Hazing Law which was strengthened after the death of Horacio "Atio" Castillo, freshman law student of University of Santo Tomas, said perpetrators of hazing seem to have not learned their lessons from the previous hazing-related deaths.
"Dapat talagang maparusahan sila (They should be punished)—to serve justice, and to serve as a loud reminder that the law works, and no one can get away with this kind of violence ever again," he said.