(Eagle News) – Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the death of 22-year old University of the Sto. Tomas (UST) law freshman Horacio Tomas Castillo III during a “welcome rites” of the Aegis Juris fraternity.
Aguirre, an alumnus of San Beda’s Lex Talionis Fraternitas, said that “deaths and physical injuries due to hazing have no place in a civilized society.”
“The loss of a life should never be the price that one should pay for brotherhood and acceptance. The persons responsible for this senseless death should be brought to justice,” he said.
The NBI was also instructed to file the necessary criminal charges against those involved in Castillo’s death.
“We will endeavor to see to it that those who are responsible will be held accountable to the full extent of the law,” Aguirre said.
In a department order which he signed, Aguirre directed the NBI and its director Dante A. Gierran to “conduct investigation and case build-up over the death of UST law student Horacio Castillo III, who died in suspected frat hazing, and if evidence so warrants, to file appropriate charges thereon.”
UST authorities have also ordered an investigation into Castillo’s death due to alleged hazing by the Aegis Juris fraternity.
Atty. Nilo T. Divina, UST’s Civil Law Dean, who himself is an alumnus of the school-recognized Aegis Juris fraternity, issued the order to investigate the hazing death in a memorandum issued Sept. 18, following Castillo’s death.
Divina said that the university will immediately conduct an investigation “to determine culpability so that appropriate sanctions may be imposed.”
All officers and members of the Aegis Juris fraternity had also been preventively suspended by the University of Sto Tomas Faculty of Civil Law which barred their entry to the UST campus.
The preventive suspension, which Divina signed, 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 the UST.
“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.
(Eagle News Service)