PNP: It’s Atio’s DNA on frat’s paddle

The body fluids on a wooden paddle recovered at the Aegis Juris fraternity library in Manila matched the DNA samples of the parents of slain law student Horacio “Atio” Castillo III, the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory said yesterday.

Chief Inspector Lorna Santos, who heads the Crime Laboratory’s DNA section, said the fluids matched buccal swabs from the victim’s parents, Horacio Castillo Jr. and his wife Carminia.

The bloodstains from a white shirt turned over to the Crime Laboratory also matched the DNA from Castillo’s parents.

Castillo was clad in the shirt when he was brought to the Chinese General Hospital.

“The probably of parentage is 99.99 percent,” Santos said in a phone interview.

Santos said they got the test results on Thursday, though she could not remember the date Castillo’s parents submitted samples.

Santos said the test result will be included in the evidence that could be used for lawsuits against the suspects in Castillo’s death.

The 22-year-old law freshman from the University of Sto. Tomas died of massive injuries after allegedly undergoing hazing rites last month.

He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) said Ralph Trangia, one of the suspects in Castillo’s death, was returned to the country through the cooperation between the Philippines and Taiwan.

TECO said the Taiwanese government informed the Bureau of Immigration as it tracked Trangia’s movement when he left Taiwan for Chicago on Sept. 19 and his return journey from Chicago to Taiwan on Oct. 9.

Taiwanese authorities “ensured” he was put on a flight for Manila the next day, TECO said in a statement last Wednesday. –