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19 frat members met how to ‘cover up’ Atio Castillo death —MPD chief


Some 19 members of the Aegis Juris fraternity met on the same day that freshman law student Horacio “Atio” Castillo III was brought to the hospital and proclaimed dead, Manila Police District (MPD) director Chief Superintendent Joel Coronel said Wednesday.

During the Senate public order committee hearing on the death of hazing victim Castillo, Coronel said they discovered an online chat group with 30 Aegis Juris members. He said the group discussed their next steps after Castillo’s death.

“In light of the discovery of the chat message that was formed on Sunday, September 17, the objective of the Aegis Juris fraternity is to cover up, conceal, to avoid, and evade investigation and prosecution of this case,” Coronel said.

According to Coronel, 19 of the 30 members met at Novotel Manila Araneta Center hotel in Quezon City. He presented CCTV footage showing the members arriving at the hotel.

Of the 19, Coronel said they were already able to identify 12, based on the information on their social media pages.

“It seems that the tendency of the fraternity is to conceal and obstruct justice,” Coronel said.

“Nowhere in this thread showed that they were willing to subject themselves to this investigation,” he added.

In a statement last month, the Aegis Juris fraternity said it also wants to “see that justice is served for the death of Brod Atio.”

Castillo was a neophyte who underwent "welcoming rites" of the Aegis Juris Fraternity on the weekend of September 16 to 17.

Castillo's badly bruised body was brought to the Chinese General Hospital on the morning of September 17. Autopsy showed Castillo died of "severe blunt traumatic injuries." —KG, GMA News

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