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[av_heading heading=’ NBI to probe UST law student death in ‘hazing’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Wednesday. September 20, 2017
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MANILA – Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the death of a University of Santo Tomas (UST) law freshman due to alleged fraternity hazing.
The NBI must also file charges against those responsible for the death of Horacio Tomas Castillo III during the “welcome ceremony” of the UST-based Aegis Jvris, Aguirre said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Deaths and physical injuries due to hazing have no place in a civilized society,” said the secretary. “The loss of a life should never be the price that one should pay for brotherhood and acceptance.”
Castillo died of a massive heart attack brought about by hematoma, a postmortem examination by the Manila Police District (MPD) medicolegal team showed.
The MPD is considering the person who brought Castillo to the Chinese General Hospital on Sunday a person of interest.
Raising suspicion on his statement, police will invite Paul Sarte Solano to make clarifications, MPD director Joel Napoleon Coronel said.
Solano had said he found Castillo’s body at around 8 a.m. on Sunday on a sidewalk in Tondo, Manila. But security camera footage of the area showed no body was dumped there at around that time.
“Witnesses have not noticed what Solano was referring to,” Coronel said. “(Solano’s) statement is inconsistent with testimonies of barangay officials.”
Coronel said the MPD found out that Solano is a part-time employee of San Lazaro Hospital and also student of UST Faculty of Civil Law.
Axel Hipe, an Aegis Jvris member and the last person to call Castillo, as phone records showed, is also a person of interest, police said.
The body of Castillo, 22, was wrapped in a thick blanket when dumped on a sidewalk in Balut, Tondo on Sunday. A concerned citizen brought it to the Chinese General Hospital, where Castillo was pronounced dead, police said.
UST Faculty of Civil Law dean Nilo Divina, himself an alumnus of the fraternity, placed all Aegis Jvris members under preventive suspension./PN
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