De Lima vows hazing probe

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has vowed an “honest to goodness” investigation into the death in Antipolo City of San Beda law student Marvin Reglos in suspected hazing rites of the Lambda Rho Beta—the allied fraternity of her own sorority.

De Lima revealed that she was a cofounder of Lambda Rho Sigma, the sister sorority of Lambda Rho Beta, and said she would appeal to her “brods” to cooperate in the investigation.

“I will appeal to my brods in the fraternity to cooperate fully with the investigation. I will ask the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation to invite known officers of Lambda Rho, [including] the Grand Rhoan, the head of the resident brods, to possibly shed light for further questioning,” said De Lima, a graduate of the San Beda College of Law.

De Lima met on Wednesday with Reglos’ father Lucito and sister Lorvie, and approved their request for a reautopsy of Reglos’ remains.

“The information they got is that the funeral homes somewhere in Antipolo had conducted an autopsy, but until now they haven’t gotten  hold of anything. They also didn’t see any medical records from the hospital where Marvin was brought. So to be sure, we have to conduct a reautopsy. The NBI will assign a medico-legal doctor to do it,” De Lima told reporters.

De Lima also ordered the NBI to conduct a parallel probe of the killing, although she stressed that the Philippine National Police would remain the lead investigator in the case.

Reglos, a law student, was brought to the Unciano Medical Center in Antipolo on Sunday night where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police suspect he died from injuries suffered during fraternity initiation rites. The T-shirt he wore bore the name “Lambda Rho Beta.”

The Secretary also ordered the NBI to verify information, relayed by a cousin of Reglos, that two other students were seriously injured during the initiation and were hospitalized, one of them in critical condition.

John Does

“Even if there are already two [suspects] in custody, there are other John Does. We don’t know how many participated, who they are and who are present, who directly inflicted physical harm. I’m really interested to know what happened, who are involved and who should be accountable. [Hazing] is a criminal act. We have the Anti-Hazing Law. Our fraternities have their lesson,” she added.

Lucito thanked De Lima for her actions on his son’s death. He said he allowed Reglos’ remains to be brought to San Beda for public viewing for a few hours yesterday to serve a reminder to students about the dark side of fraternities.

Reglos’ remains will later be taken to their native Isabela, Lucito said.