THE problem was like a virus replicating itself in the body of a patient, becoming almost uncontrollable. The National Institute of Public Administration (IPDN), tasked with producing civil service administrators, has become ever more notorious for its ‘institutionalized’ violence on its campus.

Established in 1989, IPDN seems to have been violence-free only during the first three semesters of its existence. At that time, about 500 new cadet