Win Tayong Lahat

WIN sa balita

Solon calls on PNP to probe teen’s death in Bacolod City due to hazing

Valenzuela City Congressman Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian, who served as Valenzuela City mayor from 2004 to 2013, said it is important for the police to probe on the death of John Kurt Inventor two days ago.

 

Inventor, a third year student of the Abkasa National High School in Barangay Mandalagan in Bacolod City, allegedly underwent a fraternity initiation rite before his death on Monday, according to boy’s grandfather, Kenneth Inventor.

 

“It is really saddening to know that another student has died due to hazing. Justice can only be rendered to John Kurt Inventor if police investigators can solve his death and those responsible are identified, arrested, and charged in court,” Gatchalian said.

 

Earlier, school officials of Abkasa have already maintained that there are no fraternities in their school and that the victim is a transferee and is known to have a different group of friends outside Abkasa National High School.

 

Gatchalian, a member of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, said it is important for the police to solve the new case since an unsolved hazing case will further embolden the others to continue with their hazing practices.
The former Valenzuela City mayor is the principal author of House Bill No. 4714, or the “Servando Act”, which seeks to totally prohibit hazing and impose graver penalties on fraternities, sororities, student organizations, and school administrators who will be involved in violent hazing in the future.

 

Gatchalian’s filing of HB 4714 was prompted by the hazing incident involving Guillo Cesar Servando, a sophomore student of De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB) who died last June 28 due to injuries from hazing conducted by members of the CSB chapter of Tau Gamma Phi Fraternitas.

 

If enacted into law, Gatchalian’s bill will repeal Republic Act 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law which proved to be toothless in not only preventing hazing but also in going after those responsible for such violent acts, including school authorities who always keep a policy of silence on the matter.

 

Police reports said the relatives of John Kurt initially thought the boy only had a fever. But when he vomited blood, they brought him to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital last Aug. 30.

 

At the hospital, doctors saw Inventor had bruises in both knees, cigarette burns on the feet, a fracture on the shoulder, and a wound in the buttocks that may have been from an ice pick.

 

Based on his death certificate, Inventor died of septic shock. The boy died in the morning of September 1 or two days after he was rushed to the hospital.

 

The grandfather emphasized that it is very sad to lose the victim to a senseless death after taking care of him for 15 years. The elder Inventor said that he took care of the victim since he was one year old when his mother had to work in Kuwait. (R. Burgos)