UST calls for healing of wounds, but Atio’s case brings such pain

The time for the healing of wounds has come for the hazing case of Horacio “Atio” Castillo III, according to the Secretary-General of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Rev. Fr. Jesus Miranda O.P., in a memorial service held on Monday at the UST Santisimo Rosario Parish, a year after the death of the Civil Law freshman.

“After a year, don’t you think it’s about time that total healing would already happen? Time heals wounds. It could be healed through prayers and it can also be healed if justice will be served to those responsible for such an abominable incident,” Miranda said.

Castillo family was not the only one who was “hurt” by the incident but the University as well, he added.

In an interview, Carmina Castillo, Atio’s mother, spoke of how her family truly felt: “We remember every hour, every minute we felt scared he was missing. It was so fresh. I could remember every step. It was as if we stopped there, it is almost a year [but] it doesn’t seem like a year,” she said.

“We feel na nandun pa rin kami, that particular day. ‘Yung particular time, Sept. 17,” the grieving mother said.

“There is a piece of you missing. As much as possible you want to adjust but you cannot. Other people are moving on, you see the world change…you even see the children grow up, Atio’s batchmate in law school are already in second year,” added Atio’s father, Horacio Jr., in Filipino.

“Such unfortunate and painful events should make us reflect deeply on our core as Thomasians and as a University. We need to go back to our revered values as a Catholic institution,” Miranda said.