2nd witness breaks hazing secrecy

Another fraternity neophyte who underwent the hazing rites that killed San Beda law freshman Marvin Reglos last month met with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday, expressing a willingness to help in the investigation centering on the members of the Lambda Rho Beta (LRB) fraternity.

Also a Bedan law student, he was the second witness to come out following Reglos’ death on Feb. 19. He surfaced on the eve of Reglos’ burial in his native town of Burgos, Isabela province.

He was accompanied by his parents to the Department of Justice at around 1 p.m. and was interviewed by De Lima and later by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Later in an interview, De Lima, who is also a Bedan and co-founder of Lambda Rho Sigma which a sister organization of the LRB, said she saw the bruises and other injuries that the neophyte suffered during the hazing.

“We cannot yet share at this time any information coming from him. It would appear that it was not him who was supposedly in critical condition, although I saw his bruises. They said they would want to cooperate in the investigation and whatever they know, they will share with the investigators, she said.

Television reports earlier said two other neophytes named Jan Darrel Iringan and Omar Suhibil were injured and hospitalized after the alleged hazing conducted by LRB at a private resort in Antipolo City.

De Lima said the student went to his native province after initiation as he was suffering from a heart ailment. He was also set to take his final exams at San Beda next week, she added.

Witness protection

The initiate declined to be placed under the DOJ’s witness protection program, unlike a fellow LRB neophyte who went to the DOJ earlier this week to also offer help in the probe.

According to Antipolo police investigators, however, they have yet to meet or communicate with the supposed witnesses against the LRB members being charged for the fatal hazing, led by its “Grand Rhoan,” Eduardo Escobal II.

“They were vital witnesses because they were present at the crime scene. But where are they now?” Senior Insp. Ronald Zamora, head of the investigation unit, told the Inquirer on the phone.

Without waiting for the witnesses, Antipolo police yesterday filed criminal charges against Escobal II and nine others, namely John Carlo Aguito, Glen Ricafranca, Kevin Jordan Mendoza, Norman Espinosa, lawyer Dino Robert de Leon, Marco Ampil, Israel Cruz, Kelvin Bryan Pe and Christian Adovo.

They were charged with murder in relation to the Anti-Hazing Law.

Zamora said the respondents were positively identified through photos shown to the security guard of Guillean’s Place resort in Barangay San Roque where the initiation rites took place.

Zamora said six other fraternity members being linked to the hazing rites remained unidentified.

Grandma sleepless

Reglos, 25, will be buried today at a public cemetery in Burgos, Isabela.

His family will symbolically release 25 white balloons at the burial, the number representing his age, the Inquirer learned.

Reglos’s grandmother, Magdalena Reglos-Pascual, 90, said she had been “sleepless for many nights” just thinking of the ordeal he had suffered.

“We hope, President Aquino, that you can solve this killing so that we will get justice,” she said.

“I cannot even avenge his death,” said Reglos’s younger sister, Lorvie. His mother, Myrna, sighed: “I can no longer embrace my son. We hope to obtain justice soon.”

Reglos was a teacher in his hometown before going to Manila to study law. Friends remembered him as a kind, warm person.

An uncle, Michael Reglos, said he last saw Marvin alive during the wedding of a relative on Jan. 7, and that he could still recall how his nephew nagged him to prepare the barong Tagalog he would wear for that occasion.

“He was a kind man. We will miss him,” he said. With a report from Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon