‘No VIP treatment for Aegis Juris fratmen’

MANILA, Philippines — The members of the Aegis Juris fraternity charged for the hazing death of University of Sto. Tomas law student Horacio “Atio” Castillo III are not enjoying VIP treatment at the Manila City Jail (MCJ), an official said yesterday.

“They are being treated like ordinary inmates and there is nothing to say that they are being treated differently from the others,” Senior Inspector Jayrex Bustinera, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology public affairs office chief, told The STAR.

After receiving the commitment order issued by Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 20 Judge Marivic Umali on Tuesday night, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) turned over the fratmen to the MCJ Wednesday afternoon.

Bustinera said the 10 accused were taken to a dormitory that is supposed to house only 100 inmates but is currently occupied by 500 detainees.

Asked to describe the dormitory, he said “it is a big cell without any divisions but it has lavatories, water and other things that they need for their personal use.”

He said the 10 fratmen will have to handle things inside on their own “because the situation there is different from outside.”

An inmate is fed three times a day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – on a measly budget of P60, according to Bustinera.

“If their relatives will bring them food then it is okay with us. Otherwise, they have to deal with the hardship,” he said.

Fratmen have to contend with the threat of bullying in jail. In their petition to allow them to stay at the NBI detention facility, they said they could be “subjected to jail-bullying and threats which may result to physical confrontation and can lead to unnecessary violence.”

A former MCJ inmate, a jail gang leader who served time for robbery and homicide, said “life inside is hell” and most inmates view detainees from privileged families with spite.