A MANILA court has sentenced 10 accused fraternity members to life imprisonment in relation to the death of former University of Santo Tomas (UST) law freshman Horacio “Atio” Castillo III.
In an order issued on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 11 said it found 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. guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of the Anti-Hazing Law of 1995.
They were sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years of imprisonment.
The convicted suspects were also ordered to pay the kin of the victim P461,800 in actual expenses, P75,000 as civil indemnity, P75,000 as moral damages, and P75,000 as exemplary damages.
“All the amounts shall earn interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum upon finality of the decision until fully paid,” the court said.
Castillo, then 22, died on September 17, 2017 after undergoing initiation rites of the Aegis Juris fraternity.
John Paul Solano, also a member of the Aegis Juris Fraternity who brought Castillo at the Chinese General Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival, tried to conceal the crime by telling that he found him lying in a roadside covered with a blanket.
He later admitted that Balag instructed him to make such a story.
Solano was convicted for obstruction of justice and was sentenced to two to four years imprisonment in 2019.
The 10 convicts have been detained since May 2018. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)