Hazing testimony excludes Ventura from ‘Atio’ charges

As state witness, Aegis Juris Fraternity member Marc Anthony Ventura will be excluded in the charges of murder, hazing, and obstruction of justice filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the death last month of University of Santo Tomas (UST) law freshman Horacio Castillo III.

“Mr. Ventura will be dropped as a respondent. That would be a consequence of his being a state witness,” DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Agu-

irre II said yesterday.

The criminal charges were filed by Castillo’s parents and the Manila Police District (MPD) against 37 individuals after Ventura submitted a tell-all sixpage affidavit to the DOJ last week.

Ventura, who was found to be a credible witness, had earlier been accepted to the full coverage of the government’s witness protection program (WPP) as a state witness.

“For you to be qualified under WPP, you should not appear to be the most guilty. And he (Ventura) is not the most guilty upon our assessment,” Aguirre said.

“We saw that it was very voluntary on his part to testify. He said he’s ready to face the consequences of his decision with respect to his membership in the fraternity. He’s willing to be expelled,” he added.

23 present at hazing Ventura, in his affidavit, said that 23 members of the Aegis Juris fraternity were present during Castillo’s initiation rites held in the fraternity’s library before dawn last September 17.

Aside from the 14 members earlier identified, Ventura gave nine new names in the persons of Edric Pilapil, Zach Abulencia, Daniel Ragos, Dave Felix, Sam Cagalingan, Alex Cairo, Luis Kapulong, Kim Cyrill Roque and Ged Villanueva.

In his affidavit, Ventura also confirmed the participation in the initiation rites of fraternity president Arvin Balag, master initiator Axel Munro Hipe, and 12 other members Ralph Trangia, Oliver John Audrey Onofre, Mhin Wei Chan, Daniel Hans Matthew Rodrigo, Karl Matthew Villanueva, Joshua Joriel Macabali, Marcelino Bagtang, Zimon Padro, Jose Miguel Salamat, Leo Lalusis, Alex Bose and Robin Ramos.

Prayer before hazing

Ventura said that the initiation rites started at 2 a.m. last September 17 with a prayer. He said those present required Castillo to do some stretching first before the initiation rites.

He said the fraternity members started the hazing by punching Castillo’s arms and used spatulas to reduce the swelling and calm the muscles, before hitting him with paddles.

He pointed out that after the third hit, the initiators asked Castillo if he could still endure the process to which he (Castillo) answered “yes.”

After the fourth hit at about 5 a.m., Castillo collapsed, Ventura said.

Solano called in The initiators summoned John Paul Solano, who has a medical background, to help revive Castillo, he said.

He said that the fraternity members have already carried Castillo to a pick-up vehicle and were to bring him to the hospital when Solano arrived. Castillo was brought back to the library, he added.

But when Solano failed to revive Castillo, that was the time the fraternity initiators brought him (Castillo) to the Chinese General Hospital where the neophyte was declared dead on arrival, Ventura said in his affidavit.

Aguirre said the affidavit of Ventura “is very necessary to successfully prosecute those responsible for Castillo’s death.”

“We don’t know if there will be more witnesses. But even if we only have him, his testimony is already strong enough,” the secretary stressed. Next hearing to be intense – Villanueva Meanwhile, expect the next Senate hearing on the fatal hazing of Castillo to be intense as senators will limit the invocation of the right against self-incrimination on witnesses and resource persons who would be asked to appear again at the probe.

Senator Joel Villanueva, in an interview at the sidelines of the 39th anniversary of Jesus is Lord (JIL) church, vowed they will squeeze more information from the supposed “key players” during the gruesome initiation rites done by top leaders of Aegis Juris fraternity.

Villanueva said the Senate Public Order Committee, chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, will delve deeper into the details provided by Mark Ventura in his affidavit.

Lacson has set the next Senate probe into the hazing incident on Nov. 6.

“Definitely, we’ll use his affidavit and we’ll call also on his colleagues to tell the truth,” Villanueva said.

“Because we’re very disappointed with Solano who promised during the previous hearing he would tell all, he would give names and then after he talked to his brods, he backtracked. So were so disappointed,” Villanueva said, referring to John Paul Solano eho was the first member of the Aegis Juris to come out during the course of the investigation.

“Itong darating na hearing, mas magiging intense dahil hindi na nila basta basta magagamit ang invocation ng kanilang right against self-incrimination (in the upcoming hearing, expect it to be more intense because they won’t be allowed to use the invocation of right against selfincrimination arbitrarily),” he said.

Villanueva said he is certain Ventura is now feeling the brunt after revealing the sequence of events surrounding Castillo’s death.

Not only would he be able to provide justice to Castillo and his family, Ventura would also help legislators craft a better law that would put a stop to a culture of violence especially among fraternities and sororities, not only in UST, but around the country, Villanueva said.