Duterte admits being hospitalized due to hazing

President Rodrigo Duterte had admitted that he was brought to the hospital after being subjected to hazing.

"Kaya ako, three days ako umuwi kaagad ako. Pa-ospital. Massive hematoma," Duterte said during a dinner with members of the media in Davao City on Friday night.

Duterte, however, did not say if the hazing was part of initiation rites for new recruits of his San Beda College fraternity Lex Talionis.

He said during his speech that fraternity members are more cruel to recruits who are children of high-profile personalities.

He said that when he was recruited, he was asked if he was the son of the late Davao governor Vicente Gonzales Duterte.

Duterte related his hazing experience amid the outcry against the hazing death of Horacio Tomas "Atio" Castillo III, a 22-year-old freshman law student at the University of Santo Tomas.

The Manila Police District has detained frat member John Paul Solano, who brought Castillo to the Chinese General Hospital where the freshman law student was pronounced dead last Sunday.

Solano had denied that he took part in the hazing of Castillo and claimed that he tried to resuscitate Castillo.

He said that fellow members of Aegis Juris fraternity called him up to help them provide first aid to Castillo.

Solano said Castillo was "half dead" when he arrived and tried to revive the student.

The Department of Justice has issued a lookout bulletin order against other members of the fraternity. —Marlly Rome Bondoc/ALG, GMA News