Makati top cop: 'Hazing house' caretaker now under WPP

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has placed the caretaker of the "hazing house" under the government's Witness Protection Program (WPP), a police official said Monday.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Lukban, Makati City police chief, said Jomar Pajarito, the caretaker of the house in Barangay Palanan, Makati City where the fatal hazing of De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde Guillo student Cesar Servando took place, has been approved for inclusion in WPP.

Lukban added that the inclusion into the WPP of Pajarito’s wife and two children are now being arranged by the Makati police with the DOJ.

“They would soon follow,” said Lukban.

Lukban earlier said Pajarito, who still lives with his wife and children in the so-called “hazing house” in Barangay Palanan, has recently been receiving threatening text messages on his mobile phone.

Lukban added that Pajarito’s wife also reported having seen suspicious-looking persons circling the house since her husband surfaced as a witness in the hazing case.

“He (Pajarito) only asks that his wife and child also be included in the program,” Lukban told the Star.

He said that the Makati police has been providing Pajarito with security.

Pajarito surrendered to the police two days after Servando’s death and led investigators to the house in Barangay Palanan.

He insisted, however, that he merely witnessed and did not participate in the beatings. Two witnesses later belied this, saying Pajarito even fed the neophytes with chili and chocolates, and also made them sniff ammonia to prevent them from fainting.

Last Friday, the authorities charged 20 people implicated in the death of Servando with violating Republic Act 8049, the Anti-Hazing Law before the DOJ.

Under the said law, people convicted of the death of a neophyte who had undergone hazing would be imposed the penalty of life imprisonment.