UST law student found dead in Tondo: police

September 18, 2017

A freshman law student from University of Santo Tomas was found dead on Monday morning, the spokesperson of the Manila Police District said. Supt. Erwin Margarejo said in a phone interview with the Daily Manila Shimbun, the body of Horacio Tomas Castillo III, 22, was found at Balut Infanta St. Tondo, Manila past 7 o'clock in the morning . Margarejo said Castillo had hematoma in his two arms and candle bruises in his body. "We saw the body. It was full of hematoma. There are burn marks, cigarette marks, and candle drops over the body and he was bloated. He went through extreme pain and suffering", said Horacio Castillo, the father of the victim said in a radio interview. The elder Castillo said his son told them on Friday he will be attending a welcome ceremony of a fraternity on Saturday and he will be back on Sunday morning. He said his son wanted to be a member of Aegis Juris, a fraternity of UST Faculty of Civil Law. The father said he could not report the incident to the university administration since the dean of the college of law is a member of Aegis Juris. "How can I report this to the administration when dean of law is a member of the fraternity that he wants to get in?", he said. The Varsitarian, the UST student newspaper said in its website late Monday Faculty of Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina has placed Aegis Juris fraternity members on preventive suspension "to ensure 'unobstructed' investigation into Castillo's death. UST expressed their sympathy and offered their prayers to the family of Castillo and assured that justice will be made in their statement. "We condemn in no certain terms hazing in any form or manner. Violence has no place in an academic institution, particularly in the University of Santo Tomas that values and promotes charity and compassion", it added. "We will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the perpetrators be meted the appropriate sanctions and brought to justice", it added. Alanna Ambi/DMS