‘Sana malinis na,’ lawyer told brods on Aegis frat library

A member of Aegis Juris advised his brods to make sure that the fraternity library where the initiation rites on Horacio “Atio” Castillo III were held had been cleaned up.

It was one of the messages in an online group chat among several Aegis Juris fraternity members discovered by the police. The said group chat was created on the same day that Castillo was proclaimed dead at the hospital.

Parts of the said conversation were shown during the continuation of the Senate public order committee hearing on Castillo’s death Wednesday.

Lawyer Alston Kevin Anarna said in the chat group: “Brod, may kaya yang family niyan. Bukas makakakuha na sila search warrant sa fratlib. Sana malinis na.”

“Matanggap na ang paddle dun,” Anarna said. Senator Joel Villanueva, who was reading the said messages during the hearing, said Anarna could have meant “matanggal” or to remove the paddle used during Castillo’s hazing.

Anarna was one of the 14 alumni invited by the Senate committee but did not appear during Wednesday’s hearing. They were all issued a subpoena upon the instruction of Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the committee.

The police were already able to identify 18 members of the group chat through their social media pages.

‘Need to meet ASAP’

It was a certain Marvi Rosero Abo, also a lawyer, who started the group chat, with the message: “Brods, we need to meet ASAP! Calling on all die hard Aegeans.”

“We all have important things to do but I couldn’t find anything more important to do than this meeting,” Abo said.

The group ended up meeting at the Novotel hotel, according to Manila Police District (MPD) head Chief Superintendent Joel Coronel.

Aside from Anarna and Abo, the other members of the group chat were lawyers Cecilio Jimeno, Ferdinand Rogelio, Edzel Bert Canlas, Cesar Ocampo Ona, Gaile Dante Acuzar Caraan, Henry Pablo, Jr., Michael Vito, Cesar Gaba dela Fuente, Nino Servanez, Manuel Angelo Ventura III, and Jet dela Peña Villaroman.

Also in the chat group were Brian Bangui, Milfren Alvarado, Ronald Cheng, Jose Miguel Salamat, and Arvin Balag, the Grand Praefectus of the Aegis Juris fraternity.

According to suspect John Paul Solano, Balag was present when he arrived at the fraternity library in the morning of September 17 to try and revive an already unconscious Castillo.

Salamat, who supposedly still has in his possession some of Castillo’s belongings, told his brods of the missed calls from Castillo’s parents.

“Brod flood na ng messages laman ng cellphone nung brod na yun, puro from mom and dad lagpas na rin sa daliri ko yung missed calls,” Salamat said.

Salamat also sought his brods’ advice on what to tell the authorities.

“Sabihin ko walang officers ngayon? May mapi-pinpoint dito brods and si Axel, Ralph and Arvin kasi sila yung tinawagan ng parents,” Salamat said.

A message from Caraan, meanwhile, mentioned of a “Cong. Edwin” who suggested the creation of a crisis committee.

“The primary task is to reach out to the family of the victim para di na mag-ingay,” Caraan said. The police identified Cong. Edwin as Cong. Edwin Uy, a senior partner  of the DivinaLaw office and a former congressman of Isabela.

In an interview, UST Civil Law dean Nilo Divina said Uy did not suggest and would never be part of a “cover-up.”

“He will never condone, he will never be a part [of a cover-up] and yours truly…When I spoke with him, he said he suggested creating crisis comm but I have no idea if he was in touch with others,” Divina said.

The senators, meanwhile, also took exception to Cheng, who supposedly works in the Supreme Court’s (SC) second division.

Cheng, in the group chat, said he saw the CCTV footage near the fraternity library.

“Nakita ko na yung CCTV ng barangay. Nilapitan ko yung tanod na contact ng brod dito satin. Plus nakita ko din yung mismong monitor. Hindi covered ang frat lib ng CCTV,” Cheng said. 

Several members of the group left when one member said the news of Castillo’s death had already broken out in the news. They said they would just create another group to delete their previous messages. — RSJ/BM, GMA News