Frat alleged in neophyte's death, 12 others slam hazing

Alumni of 13 fraternities in the University of the Philippines, including Sigma Rho, blamed for the death of neophyte Cris Anthony Mendez, signed a covenant Friday denouncing hazing as part of initiation rites. The fraternities signed a covenant called "The Multilateral Declaration Against Institutional Campus Violence in the University of the Philippines" on Friday afternoon at the UP Bahay ng Alumni in Diliman, Quezon City. Last August 27, a heavily bruised Mendez was reportedly taken by a doctor to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City but was declared dead on arrival. Sigma Rho was blamed for the death of the 20-year-old graduating public administration student. UPAA Director Rita Linda Jimeno said that the covenant of unity is the product of a conference among alumni officials and fraternities in the state university. "This is a covenant of unity and a declaration that they will renounce forever the use of physical abuse during initiations, and even rumbles, to eliminate the culture of violence in campuses especially in UP," Jimeno told GMANews.TV. Apart from Sigma Rho, the fraternities that signed the covenant were Alpha Phi Beta, Alpha Phi Gamma, Alpha Phi Omega, Beta Epsilon, Beta Sigma, Gamma Sigma Pi, Pan Xenia, Phi Kappa Mu, Scintilla Juris, Tau Alpha, Upsilon Sigma Phi, and Vanguard. A sorority, Sigma Delta Phi, also signed the declaration. Sigma Rho was represented by its alumni president, Bienvenido Somera Jr, and Victor Lazatin, secretary general of Sigma Rho Council Inc. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV