EDITORIAL - Closure

Seven years after Horacio “Atio” Castillo III died from severe beating during fraternity initiation rites, 10 of the young men he had thought would be his Aegis Juris “brothers” were convicted of hazing yesterday and sentenced to life in prison by Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 11 Judge Shirley Magsipoc-Pagalilauan.

Convicted of violating Republic Act 8049, the original Anti-Hazing Act of 1995, were former University of Sto. Tomas law students Arvin Rivera Balag, Mhin Wei Chan, Axel Munro Hipe, Oliver John Audrey Onofre, Joshua Joriel Macabali, Ralph Trangia, John Robin Ramos, Jose Miguel Salamat, Danielle Hans Matthew Rodrigo and Marcelino Bagtang Jr.

“Finally, there’s closure,” the victims’ father Toti said after the verdict was handed down. He and his wife Carmina said the next step in their “long journey” for justice is to see several lawyers linked to Aegis Juris disbarred for trying to cover up the crime. The bereaved parents also want to see greater accountability and responsibility among school administrators in protecting their students from hazing rites.

Aegis Juris Foundation trustee Nilo Divina has remained the dean of the UST Faculty of Civil Law. He denied the Castillo couple’s lament that UST failed to protect their son. In August this year, Divina was found guilty of “simple misconduct” by the Supreme Court and fined P100,000 for an unrelated issue: sponsoring trips of members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines–Central Luzon in 2022 and 2023 while campaigning for election as governor of the IBP chapter.

Atio Castillo’s death prompted an amendment of the 1995 law, whose wording “regulating” hazing and other forms of initiation rites was seen to have effectively allowed the continuation of the violence. In June 2018, less than a year after Castillo was killed, Republic Act 11053 amended RA 8049, expressly “prohibiting” hazing and “regulating” other forms of initiation rites. RA 11053 also broadens the accountability of school administrators and fraternity elders in hazing.

Although the guilty verdict can be appealed before higher courts by the 10 Aegis Juris members, the heavy penalty should help deter hazing. It came too late for 18-year-old Grade 11 student Ren Joseph Bayan, who was found dead on Sept. 29 reportedly following hazing by the Tau Gamma Phi in Nueva Ecija. Last year alone, the group was also blamed for hazing deaths in Adamson University and the Philippine College of Criminology. It’s not a fraternity but a gang of hoodlums that must be outlawed. The anti-hazing law that emerged from the death of Atio Castillo must be fully enforced to end this orgy of lethal violence.