DOJ forms panel to probe hazing case

MANILA, Philippines - A three-member special panel of prosecutors has been formed to conduct preliminary investigation on 20 people accused of involvement in the death of hazing victim Guillo Servando.

The 20 are charged with violating Republic Act 8049, the Anti-Hazing Law.

Servando’s father Aurelio filed the criminal complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ) last Friday.  Assistant State Prosecutors Stewart Allan Mariano, Arnold Magpantay and Alejandro Daguiso   comprise the panel.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said: “The panel is hereby directed to act with dispatch and resolve the aforementioned case at the soonest possible time, and if evidence warrants, to file the corresponding information before the proper court.” 

Leading the respondents is Cody Errol Morales, reported head of Tau Gamma Phi fraternity-De La Salle University chapter.

Others are Daniel Paul Bautista, Emerson Calupas, Jomar Pajarito, Kurt Michael Almazan, Luis Solomon Arevalo, Carl Francis Loresca, Hans Killian Tatlonghari, Eleazar Pablico III, John Kevin Navoa, Vic Angelo Dy, Mark Andrew Ramos, Steven Jorge Peano, Mike Castaeda, Tessa Dayanghirang, Alyssa Valbuena, Justice Francis Reyes, an alias Kiko, alias Bea and another unidentified suspect.

Morales and Bautista are the officers of the fraternity chapter who acted as medics and tried to revive Servando after the initiation rites. Pajarito is the caretaker of the house in Barangay Palanan in Makati where the initiation took place.

Navoa, Calupas, Tatlonghari and Pablico have already left the country, according to the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Makati police chief Senior Superintendent Manuel Lukban said Pajarito has been approved for inclusion in the Witness Protection Program (WPP). The inclusion of his wife and two children into the WPP is now being arranged, he added. – With Mike Frialde, Danny Dangcalan