Lawyer slams DOJ for turning frat suspect to state witness
Lawyer of Aegis Juris member Alex Bose lambasted the Department of Justice (DOJ) for accepting fraternity member Mark Anthony Ventura as state witness, saying Ventura should be disqualified as he participated in the hazing.
Paris Real said this violates section 10 of the Witness Protection Program (WPP) which states that only the least guilty can be accepted as state witness.
“Mr. Ventura, under Section 10 of the Witness Protection Program, is actually disqualified from becoming a state witness due to the fact that he actually participated in the supposed hazing, punching of the late Atio Castillo as he admitted in his sworn affidavit,” he said in an interview with the Manila Standard.
Real also said Ventura, being the Aegis Juris’ secretary and master initiator in the fraternity's flyer as depicted by the police, makes him not qualified as state witness.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, however, said a person applying for state witness does not need to be the least guilty, but not the guiltiest.
“He narrated to us what he knows about what happened to Atio from the time of his admission as a neophyte of the Aegis Juris Fraternity until his initiation rites in the early morning of September 17, 2017. Mr. Ventura gave us the names. After hearing the names, I immediately decided to place him under provisional acceptance of WPP (Witness Protection Program),” Aguirre said in a press conference.
“Even without any corroborative testimony, I believe that his statement will stand,” he added.
A person who was part of the crime committed can apply to be a state witness if “he does not appear to be most guilty,” according to the Republic Act No. 6981 section 10 for Witness Protection, Security, and Benefit Program.
Ventura named 23 fratmen of Aegis Juris and a woman accompanying Alex Bose that were present during the final rites of Castillo III.
He also admitted that he was also present during the hazing.
Ventura signed the Memorandum of Agreement with the DOJ on Wednesday, October 25, to be placed under the WPP.
He revealed that more than 10 members punched Atio until his arm swelled and Atio went unconscious at the fifth paddle during the paddling ceremony.
He also said they already put Castillo III's body in Ralph Trangia’s (Aegis Juris Sergeant-at-Arms) pick-up truck but their leader, Arvin Balag, instructed them to bring the neophyte’s body back to the fraternity library to wait for John Paul Solano, another member and a registered medical technologist, to resuscitate Castillo III.
Castillo III was delivered to the Chinese General Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.