Court recalls arrest warrants for 8 hazing suspects

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – The Cavite court has recalled the arrest warrants it earlier had issued against eight members of Lex Leonum Fraternitas for the fatal hazing of San Beda law freshman Marc Andre Marcos last year.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, Calabarzon police director, told The STAR that the Cavite regional trial court recalled the warrants as it acted on the motion for determination of probable cause filed by the legal counsels of the eight fraternity members.

Spared from arrest in the meantime are Gian Angelo Veluz, Emmanuel Jefferson Santiago, Richard Rosales, Mohamad Fyzee Alim, Chino Daniel Amante, Julius Alcancia, Edrich Gomez, and Dexter Circa.

Estipona, however, said two other frat members, Glenn Meduen and Jenno Antonio Villanueva, face arrest as the warrants against them stand, as they failed to file a similar motion.

Senior Superintendent Pedro Cabatingan, Region 4-A director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said his men would immediately serve the arrest warrants for Meduen and Villanueva, once they receive a copy of these.

In the one-page order he earlier issued, RTC Judge Perla Cabrera-Faller said there is basis for the accused to undergo trial for violation of Republic Act 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law.

Marcos, 21, who hailed from Tarlac, was rushed to the De La Salle University Medical Center after hazing rites in a farm in Cavite on July 30 last year but later succumbed to severe injuries.

Last year, nine neophytes and 26 members of Lex Leonum Fraternitas and Veluz’s parents, Angelito and Violeta, who own the farm, were charged with violation of the Anti-Hazing Law for the death of Marcos.