'Atio' laid to rest, search for justice continues

HAZING victim Horacio Castillo III was laid to rest last Sept. 27, but the quest for justice continues.

Horacio Castillo, Jr., father of the slain University of Santo Tomas (UST) law freshman, said they will continue to fight for justice not just for Atio, but also for the others who “lost their lives to hazing.”

“Give us the strength to fight for justice—justice for you, and justice for all those who lost their lives in hazing,” Horacio Jr. said in his eulogy during the funeral mass at the Santuario de San Antonio Parish, Makati.

Castillo,Jr. expressed his dismay over the fraternity members responsible for the death of his son, lamenting over the fact that barely after two months after his son enrolled at the UST Faculty of Civil Law, he was “murdered at the hands of his initiators” in the guise of brotherhood.

“[The] so-called fraternity brothers [of Atio] robbed him of his dreams and aspirations,” he said.

Rev. Fr. Winston Cabading, former UST secretary general, said a brotherhood that inflicts pain over other people is not a real kind of brotherhood.

“A brotherhood that seeks to harm in order to bond does not come from God,” Cabading said. “[T]he only creature I know, as a priest, that seeks to harm in order to bond is no other than the demon himself–the prince of darkness,” he added.

Gerardo Castillo, uncle of Atio, said the death of his nephew would be the “end” of the Aegis Juris, the fraternity responsible for the latter’s death.

“This is the end of your fraternity, believe me, this the end of it. I don’t know if any neophyte will ever join your organization,” he said.

They will not stop fighting until the people responsible for Atio’s death are brought to justice, Gerardo said.

“[The Filipinos] are not stupid, we are not stupid, that’s why even if I have all the means, if I would have to fight with [the] help of the people of the Philippines, I will get justice for Atio, even [if] he’s gone, [even if] I cannot bring him back,” he added.

He said Aegis Juris has lost a “great member” and “a great neophyte” who could have made the fraternity great.

The funeral was held at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque.

Horacio Castillo III died of cardiac arrest on Sept. 17 after being hazed by the members of the Aegis Juris.