I do not feel like mincing words. As many of you probably well know by now, another UP student has been killed in a hazing incident at the hands of his so-called “brothers”.
The 20-year old graduating NCPAG student, Chris Anthony Mendez, was declared dead on arrival at the Veterans Memorial Hospital just after midnight Monday, August 27. Students from the NCPAG and Chris’ friends have reportedly been told not to talk to media by the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, especially about his affiliations in the University, because this would “blow the incident out of proportion.”
This makes me wonder… In times like this, what would be the “proportionate” response? A life has been taken – must we speak of this in hushed and careful tones? Must we contain our grief and outrage because we know that the perpetrators too are our friends and walk amongst us and we must take care not to offend them? Is there even grief? Is there even outrage? Or perhaps, our silence is due to our collective guilt? After all, aren’t we all somehow responsible by our mere acquiesence to the culture of violence and hate and elitism and patronage that goes on around us everyday, especially in the UP College of Law?
