Zubiri: Stop senseless killings from hazing
Review police files and Court dockets

"We have to stop senseless killings from hazing. The home, schools, police and the courts should act as one. Or else, our children will end as just another statistic of unsolved crimes. That is the dark probability when one lives in a country with a weak criminal justice system," said Sen. Juan Miguel F. Zubiri.

Zubiri filed P. S. Resolution No. 504 or Resolution Condemning In the Strongest Sense the Death of Freshman Law Student Horacio Tomas Castillo III and Directing the Appropriate Senate Committees to Conduct an Investigation in Aid of Legislation, To Hold Accountable Those Responsible For This Senseless Act.

"Student organizations & youth leadership training should be monitored with seriousness by school officials. Issues of academic freedom, right to self-organization and options to police one's own ranks should be tackled by the whole school community. Likewise, the socialization process in fraternities, organizations and societies should be balanced with the student's scholastic responsibilities."

Zubiri said he "recognizes the need of young people to have a sense of belonging in a peer group. On the home front, parents should advise their children to distinguish the true character of organizations they seek to join in the campus. Surely, there could be a rotten egg in a basket and we may not know exactly when a group would become putrid. As the case of Horacio shows, open communication lines, scholastic rigor and parental advice did not deter the killers from torturing him to death. In that case, the four pillars of the justice system is taken to task."

"The Philippine National Police (PNP), prosecutors and the Courts should tackle this head on. I propose that the police and Courts review their files and dockets of the string of deaths from hazing for the past 10 years. What is disturbing is if we discover that the number of unsolved hazing deaths are exacerbated by the protection of the killers by the same fraternities compadrazgo in the PNP and the Courts."

"Horacio's death should impel us to review Republic Act No. 8049, or the Anti-Hazing Law, towards its strict implementation and refinements as needed. We should not lose our children to untrammeled machismo ending in injury and senseless death," Zubiri said.