MANILA – I was not at the initiation rites; and I was not part of the Facebook group of frantic fratmen discussing ways to deal with the aftermath of the fatal hazing of Horacio “Atio” Castillo.
These were the twin contentions of Aegis Juris member Alex Bose as he filed Thursday his counteraffidavit to the charges filed against him and dozens of other fraternity members in the Sept. 17 fatal hazing of Castillo, law student at the University of Sto. Tomas.
Bose faces charges of hazing, murder, perjury, obstruction of justice and robbery.
He was one of those tagged by Marc Ventura, fraternity member who has applied with the Justice department’s Witness Protection Program, as having been present at hazing rites that began at 2am and ended about 5am when Castillo became unresponsive after being repeatedly punched and hit with paddles.
In his counter-affidavit, Bose denied being present at the initiation rites that killed Castillo at the Aegis Juris library in Sampaloc, Manila.
Neither was he at the meeting in Quezon City, where discussions of a cover-up were tackled.
He described as double hearsay Ventura’s claims about him being present at the initiation.
Meanwhile, he said Ventura’s confession was inadmissible evidence.
In fact, he said, Ventura was the master initiator and had the duty to stop Castillo’s hazing.
Bose claimed he was not part of the FB chat group that discussed at length ways to cover up Castillo’s death.
Despite claiming he was not part of the chat group, Bose asserted that retrieval by authorities of the FB chat was an illegal act as it violated the constitutional right to private communication.
He claimed through lawyers that the act of lifting and publishing the chat thread violated the cybercrime law, data privacy act and electronic evidence law.
Bose also pointed out there was no court order to retrieve the chat thread.
