[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’UST law student killed in alleged hazing rites ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Tuesday. September 19, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_image src=’http://www.panaynews.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/nation-ust-hazing.jpg’ attachment=’117889′ attachment_size=’full’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’][/av_image]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
MANILA – A freshman University of Santo Tomas (UST) law student died of injuries sustained during alleged fraternity hazing rites, police said.
The body of Horacio Tomas Castillo III was found dumped in a street in Tondo district in the wee hours of Sunday.
Castillo was accepted in the Aegis Jvris fraternity and attended the welcoming rites on Saturday night, when the hazing allegedly happened.
The 22-year-old suffered from a “massive heart attack” due to injuries consistent with hazing, results of the autopsy done by the Manila Police District (MPD) medicolegal team showed.
He had hematoma – suggesting he was hit hard by a solid object – on both arms, the team said.
A concerned citizen found Castillo wrapped in a thick blanket in Balut, Tondo. They brought him to the Chinese General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Castillo’s mother Carmina said her son appeared to have undergone “extreme pain and suffering.” The body was bloated and had molten candle and cigarette burns, she said.
“The only good thing about this is I found him,” Carmina said in Filipino. “It’s all too late. They can no longer bring my son back.”
Castillo, who finished his bachelor’s degree in political science at UST, wanted to become a lawyer, and then a senator, the mother said. “They took that all away from him, from my son, from all of us.”
“We were so excited that he was in law school,” she added. “He was pampered. We never scolded or hit him. And yet he was mercilessly mauled and ditched. He was not even taken to the hospital.”
In light of this, UST Faculty of Civil Law dean Nilo Divina, himself a member of Aegis Jvris, preventively suspended all fraternity members.
“To ensure unobstructed investigation, all officers and members of the Aegis Jvris fraternity are preventively suspended from the UST Faculty of Civil Law effective (Monday),” Divina said in a statement.
“Members of this group therefore would not be allowed to enter the campus or attend classes until further orders,” he added. “Investigation will be conducted immediately so that appropriate sanctions may be imposed.”
The fraternity also vowed to cooperate with investigators.
“The Fraternity extends its condolences to the bereaved family of Horacio at these very trying times,” the Aegis Jvris said in a statement. “Rest assured that the Fraternity will extend its utmost cooperation in the investigation of this unfortunate incident.”
UST also condoled with the Castillo family.
“We express our profound sympathy and offer our prayers to his family for their pain and anguish – a pain that we share seeing that the life of our very own student, with all of its aspirations and potentials, taken away because of a senseless act,” the university said in a statement. “We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the perpetrators be meted the appropriate sanctions and brought to justice.”
Under Republic Act 8049, or the Anti-Hazing Law, school authorities must be informed in writing of hazing or initiation rites to be done by fraternities seven days before the activity.
“The written notice shall indicate the period of the initiation activities, which shall not exceed three days, shall include the names of those to be subjected to such activities, and shall further contain an undertaking that no physical violence be employed by anybody during such initiation rites,” the law stated.
“If the person subjected to hazing or other forms of initiation rites suffers any physical injury or dies as a result thereof, the officers and members of the fraternity, sorority or organization who actually participated in the infliction of physical harm shall be liable as principals,” it added. (With ABS-CBN News/PN)
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
