NBI finding may ruin police case vs hazing suspects

A finding made by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is threatening to upset the case built up by the police against the suspects in the hazing death of San Beda law student Marvin Reglos.

According to the NBI, the hazing rites, which led to Reglos’ death on February 19, were held elsewhere, not at Guillean’s Place in Antipolo City, as the police had earlier claimed.

“It [resort] was the wrong venue,” NBI Death Investigation Division (DID) executive officer and lawyer Danielito Lalusis told the Inquirer.

He said that another fraternity—not the Lambda Rho Beta, which Reglos was trying to join—was staying at the resort when the alleged hazing occurred.

The NBI conducted an investigation after Christian Adobo, who was among several persons charged by the police with murder in connection with Reglos’ death, told the police that he was neither a member of Lambda Rho nor a San Beda student.

Adobo said that he was a member of Gamma Delta Epsilon and a University of Santo Tomas student and that he had rented the resort from 10 p.m. on February 18 until 7 a.m. the following day for the fraternity’s 64th anniversary celebration.

The NBI said that their investigation confirmed Adobo’s statement, a finding that could upset the case filed by the police with the Antipolo City Prosecutor’s Office.

The police had identified the suspects in the case with the help of a security guard from the resort.

“We have to look for the place where the hazing actually took place,” Lalusis said, adding that the incorrect information in the court records would “definitely affect the case.”

Sought for comment, an official of the Antipolo City police dismissed the NBI findings.

In a phone interview, Senior Inspector Ronald Zamora, investigation unit chief, said that the case was the result of “painstaking work” and was filed after “much consideration and perusal.”

“Yes, we stand by our findings,” Zamora told the Inquirer Thursday.

He added that there were people who obviously wanted to mislead investigators as he questioned Adobo’s credibility, being one of the accused in the case.

According to him, it was possible that the Christian Adobo they had filed a case against was not the same man who had appeared before the NBI headquarters to give his statement.

Reglos, 25, succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead on arrival at Unciano Medical Center, to where he was taken by a group of men in the afternoon of February 19.

Two law students from San Sebastian College—Eric Castillo, 28, and Bodjie Yap, 24—were later arrested at the hospital after they aroused suspicions when they inquired about the victim’s condition.