Aegis fratman Solano: I was blindly following orders

Principal suspect Aegis Juris member John Paul Solano is surrounded with lawyers and frat members during the preliminary hearing at the DOJ on the hazing incident resulting to the death of Horacio Castillo III. INQUIRER File Photo / EDWIN BACASMAS

John Paul Solano confessed on Friday that he was just “blindly following” a fellow Aegis Juris fraternity member when he earlier claimed that he found Horacio “Atio” Castillo III’s body in Tondo, Manila.

At a Senate hearing, Solano pointed to the head of the Aegis Juris fraternity, Arvin Balag, as the one who allegedly instructed him to tell lies on how he found Castillo, who reportedly died of hazing last September 17.

READ: Solano: Frat brod made up lie about finding Atio in Tondo

Despite this, Solano dismissed any speculations that he and other frat members were trying to cover up the crime.

Asked over ABS-CBN News Channel if he would consider lying for a cover up, he said: “For me, that’s not (a cover up) because I was just blindly following a (brother).”

When asked pointblank if Balag had asked him to cover up the crime, Solano said: “No…Technically he did not directly (ask) me. Hindi nya direktang sinabi sa akin. Sinabi lang po nya sa akin, sabihin mo nakita mo sa Tondo…” (He did not tell me directly. He just told me to say that I found [Castillo] in Tondo.)

During the Senate hearing, Solano narrated how he brought Castillo to the Chinese General Hospital from the fraternity’s library at the corner of Laong Laan and Navarra Streets in Manila, where the victim supposedly died of hazing.

Solano, a prime suspect in Castillo’s death, insisted that he had no intention to cover up the crime when he followed Balag’s order to lie.

“For me, dahil wala akong intention, hindi sya cover up (because I have no intention, that’s not cover up),” he said.

Solano also maintained that Castillo did not die of hazing but from a pre-existing heart disease, citing the medico legal report, which supposedly showed that the latter had pre-existing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

READ: Atio Castillo died of pre-existing heart disease, not hazing, says suspect Solano

Even the actual hazing, he said, was not enough to induce Castillo’s death.

“Because based on the report, it’s not enough because the kidneys did not explode, the kidneys are normal,” Solano said.

So what killed Solano?

“It’s the HCM because it’s prevalent on athletes and young persons,” he added. /jpv