Aguirre: Frat member seeks witness protection

A MEMBER of the Aegis Juris fraternity who participated in the hazing that led to the death of law school freshman Horacio Castillo III has sought enrollment in the Witness Protection Program, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said Wednesday, Oct. 25.

Mr. Aguirre said Marc Anthony Ventura, accompanied by his mother and lawyer, went to his office to make the request, which the Justice chief described as a “very welcome development.” He added that Mr. Ventura is expected to be formally admitted into the WPP Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. Ventura, who Mr. Aguirre said is the only one who has accepted the Department of Justice’s invitation to turn state witness, “narrated what he knew” of the initiation rites, which took place from 1:00 a.m. of Sept. 17 and ended when Mr. Castillo collapsed as he was being struck with a paddle roughly three hours later.

He also named everyone else who was there.

Recalling what Mr. Ventura had narrated, Mr. Aguirre said the Aegis Juris members and Mr. Castillo had been at the fraternity library the night of Sept. 16.

At 1:00 a.m., the initiation began with “more than 10” fraternity members punching Mr. Castillo’s upper arms. “Hangga’t hindi pumuputok ay tuloy-tuloy lang sila (This continued to the point where the blood vessels burst),” Mr. Aguirre said, quoting Mr. Ventura as estimating this phase took about an hour.

When bruising finally appeared, said Mr. Aguirre, the punches were stopped and replaced with taps by what he called a “spatula” similar to that used in cooking.

The final stage was the striking with the paddle, Mr. Aguirre said.

Initiates, he said, are struck 10 times, once for each letter of the fraternity’s name, with the batch leader receiving an extra, or 11^th, strike. Lone initiates like Mr. Castillo, on the other hand, receive 11 blows.

At the third blow, Mr. Aguirre said, Mr. Castillo was asked “kung kaya pa. Sumagot naman siya na kaya pa (if he could still take it. He answered he could).”

However, on the next blow, Mr. Castillo collapsed and was “unintelligible” in his responses, Mr. Aguirre said.

Despite this, after a respite of a few minutes, Mr. Castillo was struck a fifth time.

It was at this point, said Mr. Aguirre, when the fraternity members became “panicky” and tried to revive him. They also dipped candle wax on him but received no response.

Around 5:00 a.m. by Mr. Ventura’s reckoning, they decided to take Mr. Castillo to the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital in the pickup of Aegis Juris “Grand Praefectus,” or president, Arvin Balag.

However, fraternity member John Paul Solano arrived so Mr. Castillo was unloaded from the pickup. Only when Mr. Solano failed to revive him was Mr. Castillo eventually taken to the Chinese General Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Meanwhile, senators on Wednesday criticized Mr. Solano for claiming in his counter-affidavit on Tuesday that Mr. Castillo had a heart condition that led to his death.

“Clearly Solano is lying through his teeth, covering up for his frat brods like a criminal syndicate member and he should be punished as well for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury for the death of Atio Castillo,” Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri said in part.

Nakakagigil yang loko na yan, pinagtiwalaan namin nung una na magsasabi ng lahat ng katotohanan (That fool is driving us mad, we trusted him to tell the whole truth),” Senator Joel Villanueva said, adding: “Can’t wait for the next hearing.”

“Clearly, the AJ frat has complete control over him,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian for his part said.

Senator Francis G. Escudero said in part: “Diskarte na siguro ng mga abogado niya yun….” (This is probably a strategy by his lawyers.) — with Arjay L. Balinbin