John Paul Solano . INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Two senators have questioned the credibility of hazing suspect John Paul Solano to assert that University of Santo Tomas (UST) law student Horacio “Atio” Castillo III did not die of hazing but of a pre-existing heart condition.
“Solano is doing everything to derail justice for Atio Castillo. After filing a motion to throw away the strong evidence gathered by the police, he then files in his petition statements that are adverse to the case,” Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Clearly, the AJ (Aegis Juris) frat has complete control over him. However, he is not a competent doctor. His recent statements will not alter the real cause of the death of Atio that is of hazing,” he added.
Senator Francis Escudero said Solano does not have the proficiency to determine Castillo’s cause of death, adding that the latest statement of Solano only showed that the Aegis Juris fraternity member could no longer be considered a state witness to the case.
“Una sa lahat hindi eksperto si Solano para sabihin yan. Ikalawa, bagamat ang immediate cause ng kaniyang pagkamatay ay cardiac arrest, ang tanong… ano ang proximate cause ng cardiac arrest? At malamang ang isasagot ng medico-legal ay yung hazing o pambubugbog na ginawa sa kanya kaya siya inatake sa puso,” Escudero told reporters.
(First of all, Solano is no expert to say such a thing. Secondly, while the immediate cause of [Castillo’s] death was cardiac arrest, the question is… what was the proximate cause of the cardiac arrest? And most probably the medico-legal would answer that it was hazing or the beating done [to Castillo] that’s why he had cardiac arrest.)
“Pinapakita lamang nito na hindi siya pwedeng maging state witness na tinitimbang sana noon dahil maliwanag na pinili na nya yung panig nya at yung panig na yun ay yung panig ng fraternity at ng mga brod nya,” he added.
(This only shows that [Solano] could no longer be state witness, which was being considered before because it was clear that he chose the side of the fraternity and his fraternity brothers.)
On Tuesday, Solano claimed he could not be held liable for the death of Castillo because the freshman law student died of his pre-existing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Castillo’s parents Horacio Jr. and Carminia denied their son had any heart condition, adding that he was in fact a football player.
READ: Atio Castillo died of pre-existing heart disease, not hazing, says suspect Solano
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier rejected Solano’s assertions regarding Castillo’s death as mere attempt to protect his fraternity brothers.
READ: Zubiri: Hazing suspect Solano now ‘fooling the entire nation’
Zubiri even said that Solano’s statement only showed that the frat man is now trying to “fool the entire nation.” /kga