Breaking the hazing cycle

Last month, 22 Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) cadets were found to have suffered severe burns at Camp General Mariano Castañeda in Silang, Cavite. Further investigation revealed that the sophomore cadets were allegedly smeared with a mixture of drain cleaner and muriatic acid on their backs, thighs, and even their private parts as part of a cruel hazing rite.

According to the advocacy group StopHazing, hazing has three defining elements: it occurs in a group context, involves degrading or endangering behavior, and happens regardless of an individual’s willingness to participate. Republic Act No. 11053, or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018, already makes all forms of hazing illegal by prohibiting any group from hurting, humiliating, threatening, or psychologically manipulating someone as a condition for joining or staying in an organization. If hazing leads to death, rape, or mutilation, those responsible may face imprisonment of up to 40 years and fines of up to P3 million. Despite these legal safeguards, however, there have been at least 16 recorded hazing-related deaths in the country in the 2020s alone.

Hazing is often tied to ego, power, and group identity. Those who conduct hazing rites typically justify them as a way to strengthen group cohesion. Some psychological theories explain how “affiliative bonds” are formed when a group is exposed to a shared threat. By placing individuals under physical, emotional, or psychological danger, hazing pushes them to seek refuge in the very group that is harming them.

But this kind of belonging is not real belonging. Hazing creates an environment in which members never truly feel safe unless they’re at the top of the food chain. It normalizes an abusive climate, where well-being, inclusion, and a genuine sense of community are all compromised.

Studies on hazing also emphasize its cyclical nature. Group leaders who experienced hazing when they were new tend to believe that pledges must undergo the same treatment to preserve the “integrity” of the organization. The intensity of their own initiation rites may also compel them to carry out the same, or even worse, treatment to reinforce their superiority in the hierarchy.

The students from PNPA must have known that hazing is illegal and that there are heavy criminal sanctions if they are caught. Despite full knowledge of these risks, they still allegedly subjected the plebes to what can only be described as torture. This speaks to a culture of impunity that enables hazing to endure.

Weak deterrence and inconsistent oversight embolden upperclassmen and supervising officers to act without fear of repercussions. The feeling of invincibility is further reinforced by the low conviction rates in hazing cases. A 2017 PNP report showed that only nine out of 105 filed cases were resolved over 15 years, with only 15 people convicted out of hundreds of suspects. This is due in no small part to the power that some of these institutions wield in protecting their own members and their own reputation. So long as perpetrators believe that they will be protected, and bystanders believe silence is safer, hazing will continue to be seen as an “organizational tradition.”

It is here that Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla’s swift and decisive action matters. Apart from the seven cadets and two technical officers who were charged with violating the Anti-Hazing Act, 42 PNPA cadets have also been recently expelled for their failure to report wrongdoing and alleged dishonesty during the investigation. This sends across a clear and necessary message. The PNPA is not only being held liable for a mere disciplinary breach but also for a deeper moral failure. A police academy cannot claim to effectively teach justice and public service while allowing its cadets to believe that loyalty means concealing illegal and harmful acts.

StopHazing recommends interventions that target hazing prevention at every level of an institution’s social ecology. This includes trainings and initiatives focused on bystander intervention, ethical leadership development, and the promotion of healthy group cohesion without hazing. It also requires understanding social dynamics and physical spaces where abuse can hide. Recognizing that hazing often happens in their sleeping quarters at night, the PNPA has prohibited upperclassmen from entering underclassmen barracks at night, with guards assigned to ensure compliance.

Hazing places institutional hierarchy above human dignity. It teaches young people that power is earned by enduring pain and proven by inflicting it. It creates an environment bonded by trauma, where each new generation is subjected to inhumane treatment so that those before them can feel superior. But no institution, especially one that trains future officers of the law, should be formed in an environment that normalizes abuse and impunity.