2 Aegis Juris fratmen want judge to recuse himself from Atio Castillo case

A Manila judge has been asked by two members of the Aegis Juris fraternity ordered arrested for hazing to recuse himself from handling the case against them in connection with the death of law student Horacio "Atio" Castillo III.

Jose Miguel Salamat and John Robin Ramos want Judge Alfredo Ampuan of the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 40 to recuse himself from the case because he is allegedly the brother-in-law of Dante Jimenez, the founding chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).

The VACC had offered legal assistance to Castillo's parents, Carminia and Horacio Jr., as they sought justice for their son, who died in September last year after attending the "initiation rites" of the fraternity.

"...the Presiding Judge is incapable of rendering fair and impartial adjudication of this instant case because he is the brother-in-law of Mr. Dante Jimenez, the President of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption," a supplement to their motion states.

Salamat and Ramos alleged that Marilissa Jimenez-Ampuan is the sister of the VACC official, and attached in their supplemental filing a photo of the Ampuan couple and Jimenez in an event of the Mariners Tourism and Hotel Institute.

The institute is allegedly owned by the Mariners Polytechnic College, which Jimenez purportedly chairs and his sister reportedly presides over.

Ampuan on Thursday ordered the arrest of Salamat, Ramos, and the other eight accused of violating the Anti-Hazing Act in connection with the death of the 22-year-old Atio Castillo. —KG, GMA News