The family of hazing victim Horacio “Atio” Castillo III vowed to pursue justice for their son as he was laid to rest on Wednesday at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque.
In his eulogy, Horacio Jr., father of the slain Civil Law freshman, said his son Atio was “murdered at the hands of his initiators” and was “robbed of his dreams and aspirations” by his so-called Aegis Juris fraternity brothers.
Horacio Jr. said their fight for justice would also be for others who lost their lives to hazing.
Gerardo, uncle of Atio, warned the Aegis Juris fratmen that the brutal killing of his nephew would mark the end of the fraternity.
“This is the end of your fraternity, believe me, this is [the] end of it…I don’t know if any neophyte will ever join your organization,” Gerardo told the Varsitarian in a chance interview.
Gerardo said Atio “would have made the fraternity great.”
Education Regent and former UST secretary general Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P., who led the Requiem Mass for Atio, said the act of harming “just to bond” was not a form brotherhood.
“[A] brotherhood that seeks to harm just to bond does not come from God…The only picture I know as a priest that seeks to harm in order to bond is no other than the demon himself – the prince of darkness,” Cabading said.
Cabading urged Atio’s family and friends to cling to hope that his death won’t be in vain.
“[I]t is this hope that brings us together that the death of our brother, Horacio does not end in nothing… [and] it is faith that compels us to act,” he said.
Atio, 22, died following the initiation rites of Aegis Juris Fraternity on Sept. 17.
READ: Murder, hazing, robbery charges filed against Aegis Juris fratmen
Three suspects have surrendered to authorities but top officials of the fraternity remain at large.
READ: Third Aegis Juris fratman in Castillo’s slay surrenders
