Philippines Hazing Law
CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES
Third Regular Session
AN ACT REGULATING HAZING AND OTHER
FORMS OF INITIATION RITES IN FRATERNITIES, SORORITIES, AND OTHER
ORGANIZATIONS AND PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR
Be it enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1: Hazing as used in this Act
is an initiation rite or practice as a prerequisite for admission
into membership in a fraternity, sorority or organization by placing
the recruit, neophyte or applicant in some embarrassing or humiliating
situations such as forcing him to do menial, silly, foolish and
other similar tasks or activities or otherwise subjecting him to
physical or psychological suffering or injury.
The term organization shall include
any club or the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National
Police, Philippine Military Academy, or officer and cadet corp of
the Citizen's Military Training and Citizen's Army Training. The
physical, mental and psychological testing and training procedure
and practices to determine and enhance the physical, mental and
psychological fitness of prospective regular members of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police as
approved ny the Secretary of National Defense and the National Police
Commission duly recommended by the Chief of Staff, Armed Forces
of the Philippines and the Director General of the Philippine National
Police shall not be considered as hazing for the purposes of this
Act.
SEC. 2. No hazing or initiation rites
in any form or manner by a fraternity, sorority or organization
shall be allowed without prior written notice to the school authorities
or head of organization seven (7) days before the conduct of such
initiation. The written notice shall indicate the period of the
initiation activities which shall not exceed three (3) days, shall
include the names of those to be subjected to such activities, and
shall further contain an undertaking that no physical violence be
employed by anybody during such initiation rites.
SEC. 3. The head of the school or organization
or their representatives must assign at least two (2) representatives
of the school or organization, as the case may be, to be present
during the initiation. It is the duty of such representative to
see to it that no physical harm of any kind shall be inflicted upon
a recruit, neophyte or applicant.
SEC. 4. If the person subjected to
hazing or other forms of initiation rites suffers any physical injury
or dies as a result thereof, the officers and members of the fraternity,
sorority or organization who actually participated in the infliction
of physical harm shall be liable as principals. The person or persons
who participated in the hazing shall suffer:
1. The penalty of reclusion perpetua
(life imprisonment) if death, rape, sodomy or mutilation results
there from.
2. The penalty of reclusion temporal
in its maximum period (17 years, 4 months and 1 day to 20 years)
if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall become insane,
imbecile, impotent or blind.
3. The penalty of reclusion temporal
in its medium period (14 years, 8 months and one day to 17 years
and 4 months) if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall have
lost the use of speech or the power to hear or to smell, or shall
have lost an eye, a hand, a foot, an arm or a leg or shall have
lost the use of any such member shall have become incapacitated
for the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged.
4. The penalty of reclusion temporal
in its minimum period (12 years and one day to 14 years and 8 months)
if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall become deformed
or shall have lost any other part of his body, or shall have lost
the use thereof, or shall have been ill or incapacitated for the
performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged
for a period of more than ninety (90) days.
5. The penalty of prison mayor in its
maximum period (10 years and one day to 12 years) if in consequence
of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for
the performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually
engaged for a period of more than thirty (30) days.
6. The penalty of prison mayor in its
medium period (8 years and one day to 10 years) if in consequence
of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for
the performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually
engaged for a period of ten (10) days or more, or that the injury
sustained shall require medical assistance for the same period.
7. The penalty of prison mayor in its
minimum period (6 years and one day to 8 years) if in consequence
of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for
the performance on the activity or work in which he was habitually
engaged from one (1) to nine (9) days, or that the injury sustained
shall require medical assistance for the same period.
8. The penalty of prison correccional
in its maximum period (4 years, 2 months and one day to 6 years)
if in consequence of the hazing the victim sustained physical injuries
which do not prevent him from engaging in his habitual activity
or work nor require medical attendance.
The responsible officials of the school
or of the police, military or citizen's army training organization,
may impose the appropriate administrative sanctions on the person
or the persons charged under this provision even before their conviction.
The maximum penalty herein provided shall be imposed in any of the
following instances:
(a) when the recruitment is accompanied
by force, violence, threat, intimidation or deceit on the person
of the recruit who refuses to join;
(b) when the recruit, neophyte or applicant
initially consents to join but upon learning that hazing will be
committed on his person, is prevented from quitting;
(c) when the recruit, neophyte or applicant
having undergone hazing is prevented from reporting the unlawful
act to his parents or guardians, to the proper school authorities,
or to the police authorities, through force, violence, threat or
intimidation;
(d) when the hazing is committed outside
of the school or institution; or
(e) when the victim is below twelve
(12) years of age at the time of the hazing.
The owner of the place where hazing
is conducted shall be liable as an accomplice, when he has actual
knowledge of the hazing conducted therein but failed to take any
action to prevent the same from occurring. If the hazing is held
in the home of one of the officers or members of the fraternity,
group, or organization, the parents shall be held liable as principals
when they have actual knowledge of the hazing conducted therein
but failed to take any action to prevent the same from occurring.
The school authorities including faculty
members who consent to the hazing or who have actual knowledge thereof,
but failed to take any action to prevent the same from occurring
shall be punished as accomplices for the acts of hazing committed
by the perpetrators.
The officers, former officers, or alumni
of the organization, group, fraternity or sorority who actually
planned the hazing although not present when the acts constituting
the hazing were committed shall be liable as principals. A fraternity
or sorority's adviser who is present when the acts constituting
the hazing were committed and failed to take action to prevent the
same from occurring shall be liable as principal.
The presence of any person during the
hazing is prima facie evidence of participation therein as principal
unless he prevented the commission of the acts punishable herein.
Any person charged under this provision
shall not be entitled to the mitigating circumstance that there
was no intention to commit so grave a wrong.
This section shall apply to the president,
manager, director or other responsible officer of a corporation
engaged in hazing as a requirement for employment in the manner
provided herein.
SEC. 5. If any provision or part of
this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other parts
or provisions thereof shall remain valid and effective.
SEC. 6. All laws, orders, rules or
regulations which are inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions
of this Act are hereby amended or repealed accordingly.
SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect
fifteen (15) calendar days after its publication in at least two
(2) national newspapers of general circulation.
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