(Eagle News) – All officers and members of the Aegis Juris fraternity had been preventively suspended by the University of Sto. Tomas Faculty of Civil Law which barred their entry to the UST campus. This was following the death of a 22-year old freshman law student Horacio Tomas “Atio” Castillo III in a reported hazing incident involving the fraternity.
The preventive suspension was effective September 18, 2017 according to Memorandum Order No. 2017-Sept-18-01 posted on the Facebook page of the Varsitarian, the official student publication of UST.
It was signed by Atty. Nilo T. Divina, UST’s Civil Law Dean, who himself is an alumnus of the school-recognized Aegis Juris fraternity.
“The recent information we received states that UST law student Horacio Castillo III, died in a reported hazing incident involving the Aegis Juris Fraternity,” the memorandum stated.
“To ensure unobstructed investigation, all officers and members of the Aegis Juris Fraternity are preventively suspended from the UST Faculty of Civil Law effective September 18, 2017. Members of this group therefore would not be allowed to enter the campus or the Faculty of Civil Law or attend classes until further orders,” it added.
Divina said that the university will immediately conduct an investigation “to determine culpability so that appropriate sanctions may be imposed.”
Castillo was found dumped on a sidewalk in Tondo’s Balut area early on Sunday wrapper in a blanket, according to the police.
A concerned citizen allegedly brought him to the Chinese General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Castillo’s mother, Carmina, allegedly received a text from an anonymous sender saying that her son was at the hospital.
Castillo’s father, Horacio Jr., said he had repeatedly told his son not to join the fraternity as he was against any form of hazing.
But his son allegedly assured him that no such hazing would happen as Aegis Juris fraternity was an official fraternity in the university, and that UST’s Civil Law dean was even a noted alumnus of the fraternity.
His parents now press for justice.
On Monday, UST released a statement condemning hazing in no uncertain terms and offered its condolences to the family and friends of the victim.
“No words can describe our sadness for this unfortunate incident. 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, [was] taken away because of a senseless act,” the statement said.
The UST Civil Law Student Council also issued a statement strongly condemning the latest case of hazing in UST.
“Horacio was promised brotherhood, support, and camaraderie; but instead what he got was pain, suffering, and death,” the statement said.
It added: “To those responsible for this atrocious killing, now’s the time for you to question this barbaric tradition. Did his death justify your sense of brotherhood?”
(Eagle News Service)
