S. No. 176 H. No. 12401 / 91 OG No. 33, 5204 (August 14, 1995) ; 6 VLD 2d 1

[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8049, June 07, 1995 ]

AN ACT REGULATING HAZING AND OTHER FORMS OF INITIATION RITES IN FRATERNITIES, SORORITIES, AND 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 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, or 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 by 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 if death, rape, sodomy or mutilation results therefrom.
2. The penalty of reclusion temporal in its maximum period 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 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 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 of the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged for a period of more than ninety (90) days.
5. The penalty of prision mayor in its maximum period 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 more than thirty (30) days.
6. The penalty of prision mayor in its medium period if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for the performance of the activity or work in which he was habitually engaged for ten (10) days or more, or that the injury sustained shall require medical attendance for the same period.
7. The penalty of prision mayor in its minimum period if in consequence of the hazing the victim shall have been ill or incapacitated for the performance of 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 attendance for the same period.
8. The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period 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 persons charged under this provision even before their conviction.

The maximum penalty herein provided shall be imposed in any of the following instances:

1. when the recruitment is accompanied by force, violence, threat, intimidation or deceit on the person of the recruit who refuses to join;
2. 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;
3. 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;
4. when the hazing is committed outside of the school or institution; or
5. 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. Officers or members of an organization, group, fraternity or sorority who knowingly cooperated in carrying out the hazing by inducing the victim to be present thereat 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 any 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 a 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) days after its publication in at least two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,
 

This Act, which is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 176 and House Bill No. 12401 was finally passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on June 2, 1995.
 

Approved: June 7, 1995
 

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS
President of the Philippines

Source: Supreme Court E-Library