True confessions coming out

Don’t curse the rains that we are experiencing now. They may be making us uncomfortable but they are easier to deal with than if Typhoon Florita had decided to stay in our area of responsibility. After moving away, under her international name of Neoguri, she was reported late yesterday to be heading for Okinawa with winds at 265 kilometers per hour. Just imagine how much destruction that could cause if it ever hits land.

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More and more “true confessions” are coming up from fraternity members, themselves survivors of the bestial practice of hazing during their time, to give credence to all our suspicions of what goes on during such rituals. The “confessions” are being published in various media, with some of those making them hiding their identities behind aliases, while others bravely using their real names, in a do-or-die manner. Their revelations will surely save a lot of lives, especially when they are given the widest publicity possible.

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In one of the published confessions, the survivor told of the way he and his fellow victims were inveigled, relentlessly by members who promised them so many benefits in being a fratman. But, aside from the excruciating torture they went through in order to be accepted, some said it was not really a bed of roses to be one. There were downsides, like being considered a sworn enemy of rival frats, even if one had not done anything against their members. Also, one said, even his study time was affected because they were at the beck and call of their officers, or masters.

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I know someone who went through such an ordeal while I was working in Manila and he said he joined because the members assured him that being a member would assure that he would pass the bar after finishing law school. This is because his fraternity brothers, who were holding important positions, would see to it that they get “tips” on the possible questions to be asked in the bar examinations. But this guy was what you would call a nice guy, coming from a good family, and when it was his turn to be a master at an initiation, he could not bear to inflict so much pain in his fellow student. For that he was reprimanded by the masters.

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Now that more are getting the courage to come out and denounce the evil practices of some fraternities, maybe we can hope that both schools and students will be more wary about the existence of the kind that retains sadists, in their campuses. For one, both schools and the media should be on the look-out for recruiters, and for their friends and kin who may be the object of fratmen trying to get more members. There will be many of those, as those groups also vie with each other for membership. If you have a son, nephew, grandson or any relative soon to start college, do impress upon them the risks they will go through if they succumb to the guiles of those people. Clip the news items and the pictures of what happened to poor Guillo Cesar Servando and his companions and keep them to show when college classes are about to start.

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The report about the discovery of shabu tablets stuffed inside a teddy bear that was sent through a courier service company at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and intended for someone in South Africa, has renewed attention again on the plight of Filipinos who had been greedy enough and gullible enough to consent to bring illegal substances to some country, for a fee. Such people, referred to by drug agents as “mules”, do not seem to learn from the experiences of others. A reports yesterday, probably repeated to stress once again the perils of such missions, said that, as of now, there are about 200 Pinoys languishing in jails in China, charged with drug-related crimes.

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The World Cup in Brazil is now winding up and within this week we will know who will carry off the precious trophy that so many teams from all over the world had struggled so hard to own. As of now there are, I think, only four teams left in contention and others will be left with silent tears of frustration, and the feeling that they had let their country down. Well, everyone tries, but only one champion will be left standing. Brazil, the host country, must be praying hard to be “it”, but the others will not let them walk away.

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But there was a lot of drama in the weeks of contention, and a lot of great frustration too. There was Neymar, the hero of the home team, Brazil, who broke a vertebra in the course of their game, and could no longer play his country’s most crucial game. There was Luis Suarez of Uruguay, blamed for his team’s exit from the finals when he was suspended for biting an Italian player during their bout. How his people must hate him now! A report said that biting dolls have been produced and sold in Uruguay. I bet Colombians will buy those dolls for souvenirs of their victory over Uruguay.*

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