Head of frat in deadly hazing gone from Magallanes Village home, says NBI

By: Nancy C. Carvajal - 10 years ago

Taken from CCTV inside the elevator at One Archer’s condominium. The slouched person (red circle) in dark shirt and backpack is the victim.

MANILA, Philippines—The alleged head of the Tau Gamma Phi chapter at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB) left their house in a posh village in Makati City on the same day news of the death of one of its neophytes was reported in media, according to the National Bureau of Investigation.

Senior Agent Joey Ajero of the NBI’s Death Investigation Division said an NBI team served a subpoena for Cody Errol Morales, 22, who carries the fraternity title of Grand Triskelion or Lord GT, at his home in Magallanes Village but were told he was gone since Sunday.

“We issued the subpoena to get his statement about his participation in the initiation rites, but we were told by the maid who accepted the letter that Morales had yet to come home after leaving their house last Sunday,” Ajero told the Inquirer.

Ajero said that Morales was named in the affidavit of John Paul Raval, as the group’s “GT’’ or Grand Triskelion.

The NBI agent said investigators were able to get the real names of two other persons cited by Raval as being present at the initiation rites, which took place last Saturday in a house in Palanan, Makati City, not very far from the school.

He said that two students were identified as Daniel Paul Cruz Bautista alias “Pope Bautista” and Kurt Michael Almazan.

Ajero said that he had met with the management of De La Salle University and De La Salle-College of St. Benilde and they promised to cooperate in the investigation.

Raval, one of the survivors of the hazing rites was the owner of the condominium unit at One Archer’s Place on Taft Avenue, where Guillo Cesar Servando and two other recruits from DLS-CSB were brought after undergoing initiation.

Ajero said Servando was found dead in an apartment in the One Archer condominium on Taft in Manila by members of a Red Cross medical team who responded to an emergency call made by Raval.

The NBI agent said other participants in the initiation attended their classes after the hazing.

Joel Tuvera, head of the NBI’s Death Investigation Division, said that a charge of violating anti-hazing law would be filed in the Department of Justice against those named by Raval.

The NBI had earlier inspected the “hazing house” in Palanan, Makati and found the drums and cymbals and other percussion instruments the suspects used to drown out the sounds of the hazing rites.

Earlier, Senior Police Officer 1 Nilo Sadsad, case investigator of the Makati police, identified six people allegedly involved in the initiation only as “Emeng,” the alleged master initiator or the one in charge of enforcing rules during initiation rites, “Navoa,” “Rey Jay”, “Mike”, “Kurt” and “Louie.”

While the case was being handled earlier by the Manila police, two names cropped up: Trex Garcia and Hans Tamaring. These names were written on the condominium building’s security logbook by the two men who brought the four neophytes to the condo on the night of June 28.

Sadsad said the list given by Raval appears to support the statement given by Jomar Pajarito, another frat member and caretaker of the house in Palanan owned by Merlyn Venus, which the Makati police and the National Bureau of Investigation cordoned off as a crime scene on Wednesday.

Quoting Pajarito, Sadsad said Morales approached the caretaker early Saturday afternoon and asked if the back portion of the compound could be used for a “chapter meeting.”