Buwis-Buhay Reception Rites: A Culture of Violence Masquerading as Tradition

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Another young soldier is dead. Not in battle, not in the line of duty, but in the supposed sanctity of his own battalion headquarters. Twenty-two-year-old Private Charlie Patigayon collapsed on July 30 during what the military disturbingly calls “reception rites”—a euphemism as grotesque as the violence it hides. He died the next day, far from the battlefield but in the grip of a system that has normalized brutality as tradition.

Let’s stop calling it a rite of passage. Let’s call it what it is: state-sanctioned hazing, wrapped in the uniform of authority and excused by the language of “discipline” and “training.”

A Welcoming That Kills

Private Patigayon was supposed to be welcomed into his unit at the 6th Infantry Division in Datu Piang, Maguindanao. Instead, he suffered what experts suspect to be severe internal trauma, likely inflicted through violent “tests” meant to measure his endurance. But where is the autopsy report? Why isn’t the public being shown the complete medical findings?

Lieutenant Colonel Roden Orbon confirmed the incident but offered no clarity on the mechanics of Patigayon’s death. That silence is telling. Was there a cover-up? Was the violence deliberate? Was this a tragic accident or a routine procedure gone predictably fatal?

And let’s not pretend this is an isolated incident. Such "pa-welcome bugbugan"—initiation beatings—are embedded in the very culture of our armed services: the Philippine National Police (PNP), Special Action Forces (SAF), Mobile Units, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), even elite academies like the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA). Fraternity-style beatings are not the exception. They are the rule.

The Justification: Warrior Training or Power Trip?

This toxic culture is often defended in the name of forging warriors. No less than former PNP chief and now Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa once claimed that hazing “develops discipline.” He justified the violence by stating, “Tine-train ang mga tao diyan para maging warriors.”

But real warriors are trained in tactics, strategy, and morality—not in how much pain they can endure while being humiliated or beaten. The idea that physical abuse builds character is the same dangerous rhetoric used by the Nazis to indoctrinate youth through violence and domination. It isn’t strength they’re cultivating—it’s submission.

And let’s not ignore the darker truth: It’s about power. A show of dominance. A generational cycle of cruelty passed down in the name of tradition. “Because we can.” That’s the underlying message. The power to harm, to dehumanize, to control—without question, without consequence.

A System That Breeds Silence

What’s worse is that these so-called rites are rarely challenged from within. Whistleblowers risk isolation or retaliation. The chain of command often protects perpetrators under the banner of unit cohesion. Investigations, when they do happen, are sluggish and inconclusive. The culture of silence is louder than the cries of the abused.

And what of the families left behind? What do we tell them? That their sons died not defending the country, but in some grotesque play-acting of brotherhood gone wrong?

The Urgent Call for Accountability

This is not just about one soldier. This is a national crisis of conscience.

Where is the justice for Private Patigayon?

Why are there no arrests or investigations disclosed to the public?

Why is the military still allowed to inflict internal punishment with impunity?

The Anti-Hazing Law of 2018 was supposed to end this madness. But what good are laws if the state itself doesn’t abide by them?

If our armed forces—sworn to protect our people—cannot even protect their own, what future are we building? What kind of defenders are we creating when we teach them violence as virtue?

It's Time to Break the Cycle

We cannot allow another death to be swept under the rug of ritual and tradition. We cannot permit another young life to be offered at the altar of misguided masculinity and institutional pride.

The death of Charlie Patigayon must not be forgotten.

It must be the last.

We need whistleblower protection. We need independent investigations. We need systemic reform—not just words and condolences. The culture of hazing must be dismantled, not defended. Because no “reception rite” should ever come with a death certificate.

When violence becomes tradition, tradition must die.

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