A legislator on Wednesday said the campaign to contain the spread of the Coronavirus-19 disease should not be used as an excuse in releasing one of the accused in the alleged hazing death of a University of Santo Tomas law student.
Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. of Ako Bicol at the same time praised the media for drawing attention to the reported attempt to get Mhin Wei Chan, one of the accused in the case involving the alleged fatal hazing of Horacio Castillo in 2017.
Castillo, then 22, was a freshman at the UST Faculty of Civil Law when he died of the injuries he reportedly sustained while undergoing the initiation rites of the Aegis Juris fraternity.
One of the prominent alumni-members of the Aegis Juris fraternity is Nilo Divina, the dean of the college at the time of the alleged initiation rites.
Garbin said Mhin Wei Chan, in his motion for release, cited the recommendation of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice saying: “Since the current COVID-19 crisis demands prompt action, there is a need to grant provisional liberty to detainees in highly congested jails outside the provisions of Republic Act 10389, but still within the bounds of the Constitution and other existing laws.”
That law, which was signed into law in 2013 is titled “An act institutionalizing recognizance as a mode of granting the release of an indigent person in custody as an accused in a criminal case and for other purposes.”
Garbin, a member of the House Committee on Justice, said: I trust that the prosecutor handling the case would readily see that provisions in the Recognizance Act of 2012 apply only to the release of any person in custody or detention for the commission of an offense who is unable to post bail due to poverty.” Violation of hazing law is a non-bailable offense, he said, adding: “ I also doubt if Mhin Wei Chan and the other accused can qualify as indigents. They are flight risks and with the means to hide or flee.”
In a related development, Quezon City Rep. Precious Castelo urged the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice that low-risk and vulnerable detainees be tested for COVID-19 before they are released.
Castelo, a deputy majority leader, said the SC and the DOJ could request the Department of Health to do the test.
“The government should determine if the prisoners to be released are coronavirus carriers or not. If they are and are sent home, they can spread the virus to their families and the community,” she said.
If the detainees are carriers, they should be immediately isolated and treated, Castelo said. Contact tracing should also be done to identify persons the detainees have interacted with so they could be quarantined, she added.
Castelo made the appeal in the wake of reports that the SC is allowing the release of certain offenders, including those whose period of detention is equal to or has exceeded the prison term they would serve if they were convicted.
The high court took the move apparently in response to appeals for it and the DOJ to free low-risk and vulnerable persons deprived of liberty to decongest jails and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these detention facilities.
Last week, at least nine detainees at the Quezon City jail tested positive for COVID-19.