Who is the ‘Big Brother’?

One of the most burning questions at yesterday’s Senate hearing on the hazing death of University of Santo Tomas (UST) freshman law student Horacio “Atio” Castillo III was who the Aegis Juris fraternity members referred to as “Big Brother.”

The question arose when senators pointed out messages of correspondence among fraternity brothers about supposed orders from their Big Brother.

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said most of his colleagues participating in the probe conducted by the Senate Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee believe it is none other than UST Faculty of Civil Law Dean, Atty. Nilo Divina.

“Most of my colleagues are of the belief na ang Big Brother is supposed to be Dean Divina. But definitely ang Big Brother, hindi ang elders, as manifested by Atty. Eric Fuentes,” Lacson said, referring to the testimony of the fraternity member who was quoted as using the term Big Brother in his message to other frat members in the aftermath of Castillo’s killing.

Fuentes, a member of the group, told senators that the Big Brother that was mentioned in the chat message was a “generic term for former Aegis Juris presidents and elder brods. He denied it was Divina, saying they refer to him as “Dean Divina” or “Sir Divina.”

For his part, Marc Anthony Ventura, a member of the Aegis Juris, who appeared at the committee hearing supposedly to testify on Castillo’s case, named a certain “Atty. Bernardo” as the one he knew as the supposed “Big Brother.”

But Atty. Arnel Bernardo, who was also present at the hearing, said he “was not aware he is being called Big Brother.” (Hannah L. Torregoza)