KABATAAN Party-list Representative Raoul Manuel slammed Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s claims that deaths from hazing could be addressed by the discipline to be instilled by mandatory Reserved Officers Training Corps.

Manuel said that Dela Rosa whitewashes the long history of hazing under military training.

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines, the major proponent and implementor of mandatory ROTC, still breeds a culture of violence and impunity among its ranks. So how can we expect the institution to be proactive against hazing?” Manuel said.

He added that Dela Rosa himself admitted in 2018 that hazing remains deeply entrenched in the culture of the Philippine Military Academy, an institution under the military.

He even shared that his direct experience of the four-year hazing culture is what made him disciplined.

Manuel noted that there are six cases of hazing deaths inside the PMA since 1978, and it is likely that there are other unreported cases.

Because of this, the lawmaker said that dela Rosa’s statement insisting that hazing deaths are not in any way connected to the military and the ROTC program is unacceptable.