UST Law Dean Divina: 'My conscience is clear'

MANILA, Philippines — University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law Dean Nilo Divina on Wednesday defended himself and insisted that he did nothing wrong, illegal or unethical in relation to the death of a freshman student during the initiation rites conducted by his fraternity.

Divina called the decision of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Justice to call for his disbarment and his resignation as law school dean as "unfortunate" and stressed that he did all he could have done to prevent incidents of hazing happening under his watch.

"My conscience is clear. I did not do anything wrong, illegal or unethical," Divina said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson called for the removal from the law profession of Divina and other Aegis Juris lawyers who supposedly tried to cover up what truly transpired during the group's initiation rites that led to the death of freshman law student Horacio "Atio" Castillo.

The panel's report also urged Divina to relinquish his post as dean of the UST Faculty of Civil Law and allow the investigation to take its course.

Divina also described as "unfortunate" allegations in the committee's report that questioned the "veracity and sincerity" of his statements and ascribed the blame on him despite his lack of knowledge of the initiation rites prior to their occurrence and his non-participation in the deadly activity and the group chat where the supposed cover-up happened.

"In fact, I volunteered my assistance to the authorities, helped convince one of the suspects to surrender and religiously attended all the Senate hearings," Divina said.

READ: UST denies indifference to student’s hazing death

He said that he was still confident that he would be vindicated despite the accusations and cases that had been or would be filed.

Divina expressed confidence that he would not be "unfairly dragged into" any disbarment case as the lawyers subject to such a move had knowledge of the incident and failed to report it to authorities.

He said that he would not allow the wrongdoing of some people and the accusations of a few to get in the way of his job as law school dean, stressing that he has only the best interests of UST, its students, faculty and alumni in his heart.

"I regret with all my heart what happened to Atio but a wrong cannot be rectified by another injustice," he said.

READ: 'We'll leave no stones unturned': UST condemns student death in alleged hazing