Before fatal hazing, there was public humiliation

MANILA, Philippines–A week prior to the hazing incident that killed 18-year-old Guillo Cesar Servando and sent three other De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB) students to the hospital, an initial ordeal was imposed on the four Tau Gamma Phi neophytes at a restaurant in Makati City, according to the police.

The pre-initiation stage called “pledging”—supposedly meant to test a neophyte’s loyalty to his “masters”—took place at Tat Japanese Restaurant on Kalayaan Avenue in Barangay (village) Poblacion, said SPO1 Nilo Sadsad of the Makati City police.

The Inquirer earlier learned from investigators in the Manila Police District (MPD) that Servando and schoolmates John Paul Raval, Lorenze Agustin and a 17-year-old DLS-CSB student were ordered to do several tasks at the restaurant. They were made to push a car, sent on various errands and repeatedly slapped on their faces while the frat members were dining and drinking.

A week later, on the night of June 28, the four took a severe beating at a house used by the fraternity in Barangay Palanan, also in Makati. From there, they were brought to Raval’s condo unit at One Archer’s Place on Taft Avenue, Manila, where Servando later succumbed to his injuries.

One of the staff members of the restaurant declined to be interviewed when asked if they were aware of those activities by the fraternity. The owner was said to be in Singapore.

The Makati police last week named the prime suspects facing charges for the fatal hazing: Cody Errol Morales, 22, the Lord GT (Grand Triskelion) of Tau Gamma Phi’s DLS-CSB chapter; and Daniel Paul Cruz Bautista (alias Pope Bautista), the frat secretary.

Earlier, the names Hans Tamaring and Trex Garcia cropped up in the MPD investigation, allegedly those of the men who brought the four neophytes to the condo. The National Bureau of Investigation also identified another suspect as Kurt Michael Almazan, reportedly a business administration student at DLS-CSB.

The Makati police on Monday provided more names. According to Sadsad, the one previously mentioned as Emeng, the master initiator, is Emerson Calupas, 20, a Pasay City resident.

The other suspects were identified as Stephen Peñano, Carl Francis Loresca, Anton Santiago, Don Castillo and a certain Vic.

Homicide investigators of the Makati police noted that Vic and Calupas arrived late at the hazing site on the night of June 28 but they were the ones who gave the neophytes the hardest beating.

The names of the suspects were based on the affidavits executed by Raval and Jomar Pajarito, another frat member who served as the caretaker of the house where the hazing took place.

Sadsad said police teams could no longer find the suspects in their respective homes and that they had also deactivated their social media accounts.

Also on Monday, Sen. JV Ejercito filed a resolution calling for a Senate inquiry into Servando’s death and the possible amendments needed for the Anti-Hazing Law to be a more effective deterrent to fraternity violence.

Ejercito noted that despite the enactment of the 1995 law, the number of hazing fatalities continued to rise. Before Servando, two from San Beda—law students Marvin Reglos and Marc Andre Marcos—died in 2012, he noted.–With a report from Leila B. Salaverria