‘Cowards,’ Pacquiao tags frat members in fatal hazing of law student

In this photo, taken Jan. 21, 2016, Manny Pacquiao listens during a news conference to promote his fight with Timothy Bradley on April 9, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Frank Franklin II / AP)

Sen. Manny Pacquiao on Wednesday called the members of Aegis Juris fraternity “cowards” suspected of being behind the fatal hazing of University of Santo Tomas (UST) freshman law student Horacio “Atio” Castillo III.

“I condemn in the highest possible terms the cowardly and inhumane actions of those involved in this hazing na ikinamatay ng isang estudyante, si Horacio Tomas Castillo III. They have no place in a civil society,” Pacquiao said in his interpellation of Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s privilege speech on Castillo’s death.

As a father, Pacquiao said he felt for Castillo’s family.

“Yung feeling mo sa mga anak mo na pinalaki mo, inalagaan mo ng matagal, tapos papatayin lang ng walang kalaban-laban. Eh hindi ba namang mga duwag itong mga ito?” Pacquiao said.

(You have this feeling for the child that you raised and took care of for a long time, only to be killed mercilessly. Aren’t these people cowards?)

The senator called on his colleagues to exert all efforts to create laws that would prevent such acts.

“As a parent, I am greatly abhorred by this cowardice. I join the call for justice for Atio,” he said.

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, for his part, called on Dean Nilo Divina of the UST Faculty of Civil Law to take the lead in looking for his fraternity brothers and bring them to justice.

“Obligasyon at pananagutan niya yan bilang miyembro ng kapatiran, bilang dean ng Faculty of Law at ama ng college of law ng UST,” he said.

(It is his obligation and accountability as a member of the brotherhood, as dean of the Faculty of Law and father of the UST college of law).

In his privilege speech, Zubiri said that some members of the Aegis Juris fraternity had been asked to leave the country, if they had not already left the country.

Castillo was found dead on Sunday in Tondo, Manila with his bloated body, full candle wax droppings, wrapped in a blanket.

The Department of Justice on Wednesday issued an immigration look-out bulletin order on Aegisi Juris members, while the Manila Police District had already ordered a hunt for the suspects. /atm