Atio died from hazing injuries, not from heart condition – parents

Horacio Tomas Castillo III, a 22-year-old freshman law student at the UST, died of a heart attack after suffering injuries due to hazing, allegedly conducted by some members of the Aegis Juris Fraternity. (Photo by CYRILLE CUPINO / Radyo Inquirer)

University of Santo Tomas (UST) law student Horacio Tomas “Atio” Castillo III died from hazing injuries and not from a pre-existing heart condition, his parents asserted.

In the resumption of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) preliminary investigation on Thursday, Horacio Jr. and Carmina Castillo filed their reply-affidavit before the three-man investigating panel led by Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Villanueva.

The victim’s parents sought the DOJ’s indictment of the 31 respondents from the Aegis Juris fraternity allegedly involved in the fatal hazing of Castillo.

They said their son died “beyond dispute” from injuries sustained during his initiation rites at the fraternity.

Castillo’s alleged pre-existing heart condition “was not the cause of death,” his parents insisted, as the fraternity members “seem to have conveniently forgotten the other provisional anatomical diagnosis.”

They said the medico-legal report of the Crime Laboratory Office of the Philippine National Police (PNP) had concluded that Castillo’s cause of death was “severe blunt traumatic injuries, both upper limbs as shown in the gross autopsy findings.”

“(These were) blunt traumatic injuries, right and left upper extremities, and that the same was still pending histopathological examination,” the parents said.

“Clearly, therefore, the allegation of respondents that Atio’s death was caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is patently without merit,” they stressed.

The parents said the same report indicated “the mechanisms of death from traumatic soft tissue injuries (in this case swollen arms with hematomas based on autopsy and with history of hazing), would cause rhabdomyolysis (skeletal breakdown) resulting [in] electrolyte imbalance and acute kidney injury.”

The report also stated that there was an “increased potassium in the blood, and decrease calcium in the blood due to muscle trauma will cause immediate death from cardiac failure (fatal conduction abnormalities).”

They said the respondents should be held liable for violation of Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code for murder as all the elements of murder are present in the case.

“First, our son was killed, Second, respondents killed him during the final rites on September 17, 2017. Third, Atio’s killing was attended by abuse of superior strength, treachery and evident premeditation. And fourth, the killing is not parricide or infanticide,” they noted.

The complainants said the respondents should also be charged for robbery due to missing personal belongings of their son, for perjury and obstruction of justice for trying to cover-up for the crime.

Because of these findings, Atio’s parents insisted that there is probable cause to charge the 31 respondents before a trial court for violation of murder, robbery and violating Republic Act 8049 known as the Anti-Hazing Law, while 23 respondents accused of committing four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice under Presidential Decree 1829.

Earlier, members of Aegis Juris fraternity claimed that Atio died of a pre-existing heart condition, specifically due to “cardiac failure due to his hypertrophic cardiomyopathy” or an enlarged heart condition.

Below is the autopsy report:

With a report from Aie Balagtas See