oh yes.
let me recall his name.
Senator Joker Arroyo of Upsilon Sigma Phi.

ring a bell?

yeah, how can a fratman himself, abolish the very same principles and doings the frat continues to do? di ko gets. malupit ang mga “launcy”. pero abolish intitiation and paddles?

yeah right.

wala naman dapat masaktan be man enough na harapin ung pananaw ng iba.

Some last thoughts.

Not all fraternities are the same. And yet, the more I read some of the comments here, the more I am convinced that the double-nature of fraternities threatens the safety of our students of universities. The key, in my opinion, is not abolishing or banning them, but to change their a particular aspect of their nature and culture – the underground culture of violence.

One may go on and enumerate the accomplishments of his frat/her sorority. No body is taking that away from the group. But lets face the truth that violent and humiliating initiation practices have become irrelevant.

And it doesn’t even matter if you’ve killed anyone. Violence, whether physical or emotional, is still violence; thus, it has no place in an academic institution.

I’m sorry but sustaining such traditions is never about the neophytes or their firm desire to belong or build character. It’ just about traditions themselves.

Lastly, stop telling outsiders to leave fraternities alone. If you are (or were) a student of UP where education is subsidized by the government (and paid for by the people’s taxes!), then any decent, tax-paying citizen reserve some right to express concern.

People go to UP to be educated, to receive academic training from one of the best universities of our country, and hopefully be positive influences someday.

ANY entity or activity or tradition that threatens the education, the safety, the health, and the students themselves, should have no place in an academic institution.

Students and education ought to be first priority. Entities (as a group or as an individual) should have power over traditions, and not the other way around. You control your values and practices, and not the other way around.

[I'm ending this comment thread now. Thank you for your responses.]

HINDI LAHAT ng mga myembro ng lehitimong kapatiran ay tulad ng isinasaad mo at gusto mong tukuyin.

Huwag mo kaming idamay.

Bobo.

I hate to tell you this: though your intentions are well-meaning, not all of us in OUR fraternity are Christians. We have Muslims and Buddhists among us and perhaps of other religions as well.

Pardon my bluntness Mr. Ferraris, but as far as our fraternity is concerned we don’t use one single religion as a driving force to bind us together. We could theoretically accommodate even wiccans and scientologists for as long as they pass our standards and that they follow the rules that we expect them to obey. As such, this Christian Crusade of yours would not hold water in this argument that we are in.

And yes, we have no room for self-righteous demagogues.

My point to you is simple: Your frat and MINE are NOT THE SAME.

LET’S LEAVE IT THAT.

Do what you have to do, but not at the expense of MY FRATERNITY. I don’t know what shenanigans and berky stuff your frat is/was involved in, but whatever you have to say only applies to YOUR FRATERNITY and perhaps for others (assuming that you have exclusive inside information on these others). Whatever you have to share does not automatically in any way applies or is happening in my Fraternity.

I wish you well on your endeavor. I hope that you can convince these so-called fratmen with this penchant for immature undertakings to cease and desist such unwarranted actions.

As for your allegations that there are these immature fratmen who insist that their fraternity is better than others, this is what I have to say:

My Fraternity whose existence of MORE THAN SEVEN DECADES, has a history that speaks for itself. My brods and our collective achievements all these years speak for themselves. You may well be speaking of other fratmen, BUT CERTAINLY WE ARE NOT ONE OF THOSE.

For once, I’ll say this in Filipino: TANTANAN NINYO KAMI. IBA KAMI SA INYO. DI KAMI TULAD NINYO. KUNG ANO MANG KATARANTADUHAN PINAG-GAGAWA NINYO, HUWAG NINYO KAMI IDAMAY.

Why do we have to clean up the crap that you guys have left behind? You’re not one of us. We’re too much above that level to even think about doing such deplorable things.

@fuzzylogic: I’ll get back to your points much later. You see, I’m quite busy right now “making a dent in MY universe” resulting in significant contributions to society by molding future leaders. And you know what? I wouldn’t be this successful in this chosen path of mine if not for my Fraternity and the training that I got from BEING A U.P. ARGONAUT. I have gotten my own GOLDEN FLEECE and fought my own personal hydras and Clashing Rocks, and now I’m on my voyage back home to share it with others. The Adventure never ends…

UP Argonaut 90 aka UP Fratman

I am also a fratman…but I have burned my bridges to the past. My advocacy now is to help my fellow fratmen who are struggling with the stigma of this evil culture.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Matthew 6:24

As an enlightened Christian I cannot accept anymore the ways of the fraternity especially because “you will know them by their fruits”…and we have seen them all in all these years!

I have started a blog, A FRATMAN’S OASIS, to share my experiences and insights. There is no point in debating because the good fruits, especially the positive moves to abolish hatred and violence, will speak for itself.

Some sites that I have visited and read started well and good in their intentions only to be marred by immature men who still fight to claim that theirs is the better frat.

The saddest thing of all here is…before a man, in a predominantly Christian country, could even arrive at a certain point of perfecting his becoming a true Christian and brother under one God the Father Almighty he is trapped and held captive in a dubious ideology that has proven to be so anti-Christian all these years.

And to die young in spiritual blindness fighting a wrong war in the wrong battlefield is clearly a wrong sacrifice.

So blessed are those who are finally awakened before the Breath of Life is finally taken away from them.

Joel F

First of all, thank you for reading the post in the first place – seriously. God, what a lengthy reply to my “fuzzy” logic. It must have moved mountains – the truth bites in the end. If my butt were whacked repeatedly (and insensibly) as your butt was (by lunatics who think it is a rational way to screen for loyalty or comittment), I would have said the same things you said. In some aspects, UP fratman – we’re the same. I admire you for your conviction, your courage to stand for what you believe you think is right – we have something in common – this world is, after all, made up of people like you and me – both with contrasting views and noone would give in. I would like to apologize for my “ignorance” that somehow enraged you (that was an unintentional side-effect). The loyalty, commitment, devotion to (and willingness to blend and disappear into) a microgroup – our world sometimes needs people who would follow, be blindly obedient, and imbibe a programming. Too bad, these things come with too much fanaticism for some people. But, hey, we’re way out of the line here – there’s a dead guy and I think we ought to re-think the uncivilized manner in which young men like cris are being christened to fraternities or sororities. I don’t dislike (or care about) fraternities or whatever they seek to achieve in this world, I just hate the methodology most of these groups employ. People die, UP fratman, people die. I don’t need to mention that for the third time to have that stamped in your head and for you to listen to people like me. Open your mind. Can you (as an individual, forget your group for awhile) make a difference in helping stop these senseless deaths. That’s what you and I want, isn’t it? No more deaths? What do you propose? If you ask me, I have no idea, except that I want that violent whacking procedure out of the methodology of your screening – this method have claimed too much lives already.