Hazing victim’s mom finds ‘letter’ meant for suspect

It was as though alleged hazing victim Marvin Reglos wanted to help his family pinpoint those responsible for his death—even from the grave.

This was how Reglos’s sister Lorvie tried to make sense of what happened on March 29, when their mother Myrna found a letter tucked between the pages of her son’s book while cleaning the apartment unit he once occupied in Manila.

According to Lorvie, the letter was written by a classmate of her brother in San Beda law school and addressed to Eduardo Escobal, prime suspect in the killing and leader of the Lambda Beta Rho fraternity which Reglos tried to join in February.

“It was meant to prove that Lambda Rho Beta exists and my brother was trying to be part of it,” Lorvie said in a phone interview with the Inquirer on Friday.

She said her family will present the letter in court as part of the evidence against the officers and members of the fraternity.

The one-page letter was purportedly signed by Redmil Villamar who, according to Lorvie, was a classmate of Reglos, then a law freshman. Villamar wrote to inform Escobal of his withdrawal from the fraternity, she said.

“My parents learned of my affiliation and abruptly instructed me that I should pack all my things and that I am to go home back to my province and abandon my dreams of a successful law career,” the letter said, according to Lorvie.

Upon seeing the letter, she said, her mother wished that it was Marvin who had written it and he could have walked away from the fraternity before it could subject him to the deadly initiation rites.

Reglos, 25, succumbed to injuries allegedly sustained during hazing rites conducted at an Antipolo City resort on Feb 19. He was later buried in his native Isabela province.

Two students linked to the fraternity—Bodjie Bobby Yap and Eric Castillo—were arrested and detained at Rizal provincial jail. Police later charged Escobal and 15 others with murder.

Lorvie said her family’s lawyer will present the letter in the trial of Yap and Castillo before Judge Miguel Asuncion of the Antipolo Regional Trial Court – Branch 97 on April 24.

“We are happy with the pace of the case. We just hope the other 16 accused will be arrested soon,” she said.