THE 10 members of the Aegis Juris fraternity who have been charged for the fatal hazing of University of Santo Tomas freshman law student Horacio Castillo III are now under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation.
NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin said hazing suspects Mhin Wei Chan, Jose Miguel Salamat, John Robin Ramos, Marcelino Bagtang Jr., Arvin Balag, Ralph Trangia, Axel Munro Hipe, Oliver Onofre, Joshua Joriel Macabali and Hans Matthew Rodrigo surrendered to an agent and were brought to NBI headquarters in Manila at about 11 a.m.
Judge Alfredo Ampuan of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 40 ordered the arrest for violations of the Anti-Hazing Act of 1995.
Because the hazing resulted in death, the suspects are not eligible for bail.
Two of the suspects, Salamat and Ramos, have filed a motion for inhibition against Ampuan, however, accusing him of partiality because he is related to the founder of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, Dante Jimenez, who helped the Castillo family during the preliminary investigation.
Castillo, 22, died of “severe blunt traumatic injuries” after attending the initiation rites held at the Aegis Juris Library behind the university compound in Manila on Sept. 16, 2017.
His parents found his body the following day at a funeral home in Sampaloc, Manila, with bruises on both arms and cigarette burns and candle wax drippings all over his body.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, a close friend of the Castillo family, welcomed the arrest of the 10 suspects, saying he hoped justice would be served.
He said the filimg of charges against the perpetrators was one of the recommendations of the Senate committees that conducted an investigation into Castillo’s death.
“We have done our part in passing as well a stricter Anti-Hazing Law and so we thank the Department of Justice for acting on this matter, as we all continue to hope for justice to finally be served to the family of Atio,” he said, referring to Castillo by his nickname.