Chat shows frat sought cover up on Castillo’s death

By Arjay L. Balinbin and Mario M. Banzon

MEMBERS OF the Aegis Juris fraternity had agreed to cover up the death by hazing of Aegis Juris recruit Horatio “Atio” T. Castillo on Sept. 17, or so revealed an online group chat presented at the Senate hearing on the case on Wednesday, Oct. 18.

In this second hearing by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, Senior Supt. Joel N. Coronel, chief of the Manila Police District, showed a group chat on Facebook Messenger, among members of the said fraternity, soon after Mr. Castillo’s death. Parts of that conversation thread, now posted on pinglacson.net, read thus:

“Brod kapag di naalagaan yung dalawa dun or nabriefing, the legal implications could be catastrophic”

“May cctv daw ng barangay sa juaning. nakatutok sa fratlib (fraternity library where Mr. Castillo died). May concerned citizen daw naka motor. Nakita may binubuhat na parang patay sa sasakyan. Nakabalot daw ng kumot Sa tapat ng fratlib (frat library)”

“Message from hpjr. –May place na tayo brod? Cong Edwin called me just now and suggested that we form a crisis commitee…the primary task is to reach out to the family of the victim para d na magingay…”

“Brod may kaya yang family niyan. Bukas makakakuha na sila search warrant sa fratlib. Sana malinis na Matanggap na ang paddle dun”

“Kaya nga it is better to tell the parents tonight para matemper kahit konti”

“Gp @Alston may news tayo if naipalinins ang fratlib?”

“Im sure may investigator on case na jan..Bukas may kakatok na sa ust deans office At un parents malamang kumakausap na yan sa cidg o nbi I know that this is the first time that the frat is confronted with this really deep shit.. But we have to face this not as an amateur”

“Appeal to pity and settlement lang ang lusot dito brod.. mahihirapan tayo umareglo at magmakaawa kung at this stage binabalewal natin inquiries ng”

“Nakita ko na ung cctv ng baranggay Nilapitan ko ung tanod na contact ng brod dto saten. Plus nakita ko din ung mismong monitor. Hindi covered ang frat lib ng cctv”

The Aegis Juris members had agreed, going by the chat, to meet at Novotel in Quezon City in the afternoon of Sept. 17 to resolve the matter of Mr. Castillo’s death.

Mr. Coronel told the Senate the general agreement among these frat members was “to cover up and obstruct justice.”

Also presented at Wednesday’s hearing was Aegis Juris member John Paul Solano’s testimony in his Sept. 25 executive session with the senators.

Mr. Solano, who had surrendered on Sept. 22 to Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, the committee chair, had named the following the fraternity members, among others: Oliver John Audrey Onofre, Axel Mundo Hipe, Mark Anthony Ventura, and Arvin Balag, the alleged head of Aegis Juris.

Messrs. Balag, Hipe, Onofre, and Ventura invoked their rights against self-incrimination on questioning by the committee. But Mr. Balag, in particular, was cited for contempt and ordered detained in the Senate after he declined to even comment on his alleged position in Aegis Juris.

“They [the suspects] abused invoking their right against self-incrimination on questions that would not actually incriminate them,” Mr. Lacson later observed to reporters.

He added, “they are protecting each other.”

For her part, Senator Grace Poe advised University of Santo Tomas (UST) Law Dean Nilo T. Divina at the hearing to take a leave while this case was pending, citing his “conflict of interest” in his capacity as head of the Faculty of Civil Law.

“You can still teach, but you cannot be [the] dean,” Ms. Poe said. But Mr. Divina maintained that this case has not affected his performance as professor and college dean, adding that he has always observed “neutrality” in the course of his academic duties.

Interviewed later by reporters, Mr. Divina also said: “It was established in the proceeding that I have no prior knowledge of the incident, and I was no party to any of the cover-up. I cannot be made liable. The CCTV footage in our building has established that Atio had never set foot in our building.”

Mr. Divina also said that he actually encouraged all members involved to show up and explain their side and agreed that those involved in the cover-up (referring to the Facebook conversation) should be meted proper sanctions. “They should be penalized accordingly; we will never condone the cover-up,” he said.

For her part, the victim’s mother, Carmina Castillo, said at the hearing that nobody helped her family when they were looking for her son.

“We found out Sunday, Monday at 1 in the morning. Whoever texted me, I found him, sa funeraria, unidentified, so tell me what happened during those times, those days, because you have to answer for all of that,” Mrs. Castillo said.

Mr. Divina, for his part, said in an interview with reporters: “I did try to reach out [to the family]; but at 6:00 am, Sunday [Sept. 17], I didn’t have the full name and the address. It was impossible to alert the authorities without the full name and the address.”

Mrs. Castillo also appealed to the Aegis Juris members to return her son’s belongings.

“You have the phone, bring it back. You have the eyeglasses, his watch. Those are important things to us. Those were his last things that I want.”