Hazing victim laid to rest in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines —  John Matthew Salilig, whose dream to help the country produce its own fuel ended in a deadly fraternity hazing, was laid to rest in this city yesterday.

Salilig, 24, a third year Adamson University chemical engineering student, was buried alongside his grandfather, Romulo, who passed away last Feb. 22.

After being reported missing on Feb. 18, Salilig’s body was found in a shallow pit in Imus, Cavite on Feb. 28, leading investigators to discover that he was a hazing victim of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity’s Adamson chapter in Laguna.
Emotions ran high as family and friends joined the interment rites and recalled how Salilig, being the favorite grandchild, used to sleep beside his grandfather.

John Martin, Salilig’s eldest brother, described the victim as a “jolly and simple” person who had grand ambitions of helping the country become fuel sufficient.

“Matt was a simple person full of ambition in life. As a petroleum engineering student, his dream was to produce our own fuel in the Philippines. But that dream is gone,” John Martin said at the funeral mass.

Their father, Joefrey, expressed hope that while they seek justice for his son, it would be an eye-opener for all fraternity organizations that true brotherhood means not killing each other.

“To my son Matt who failed in achieving his dream, (whose) hope and aspirations were cut short, it was all shattered because of this… hazing,” said the Salilig patriarch. “What we are all fighting for is not only for us but also for other victims of hazing.”
In his farewell message, John Martin mentioned he had bought a pair of shoes for his younger brother to fulfill one of Matt’s simple wishes.

“Matt, I have your shoes here. Unfortunately, it’s too late… you’re no longer with us. I’ll just put it inside your coffin. Wear it as you walk in your new journey with Tatay,” he said.
Salilig and his grandfather were buried at a private cemetery in Barangay Tumaga, this city, after the funeral mass attended by relatives, friends, supporters and local government officials at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Concepcion.

Surrender

Salilig’s father urged the suspects in the case who are still at large to surrender and cooperate with investigators.

“I am appealing for your surrender,” Joefrey, speaking in Filipino, said in an interview with dzBB radio.

He also called on the parents of the suspects not to shield them from the police and, if possible, help them surrender.

Col. Randy Glenn Silvio, Laguna police director, said there are 18 persons of interest in the case, eight of whom have already turned up.

Seven of them are in police custody, including Daniel Perry, 23, the so-called “master initiator” of the hazing rites who underwent inquest proceedings yesterday at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for two counts of violating Republic Act 11053 (Anti-Hazing Law).

Another person of interest, an alias “Sakmal,” was reported to have committed suicide in Taguig City last Feb. 28, police said.

He was a 26-year-old Tau Gamma Phi member and IT encoder who graduated from Adamson.

Crucial to the investigation was the coming out of Roi Osmond dela Cruz, alias Diesel, who was Salilig’s fellow neophyte.

The 21-year-old Dela Cruz told police that he, Salilig and two others were subjected to hazing together.

It was he who identified some of the perpetrators to police investigators, who then had 14 persons of interest in the case.

More suspects

New information has led probers to believe that four more people are involved, raising the number of people who may be charged with Salilig’s death to 18.
Silvio said at least two of the personalities they are looking for have sent surrender feelers and that one of them might give himself up later yesterday.

He said they were also verifying reports that another suspect in the case had already surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“We have an airtight case against 15 accused,” said Silvio, revealing that more pieces of evidence have been collected to build up the case, including testimonies of eyewitnesses and three vehicles allegedly used in transporting Salilig’s body.

He said a Mitsubishi Adventure, a Hyundai Tucson

and a Ford Everest have been seized by police as evidence.
Meanwhile, Silvio said they are set to send the names of the suspects to the Bureau of Immigration and the Aviation Security Group (Avsegroup) to prevent any of them from leaving the country.

‘I want to pay for what I did’

A day before being subjected to inquest proceedings, Perry said in an interview with ABS-CBN that he surrendered to face the consequences of his actions because his conscience was bothering him.

“I just want to pay for what I did. I am having difficulty sleeping. It is such a heavy burden to carry, not being able to eat, seeing Matt (Salilig) even when I just close my eyes,” Perry, who goes by the alias Sting, said in Filipino.

He surrendered to Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla on Thursday and was brought for inquest to the DOJ in Manila yesterday, said Lt. Col. Virgilio Jopia, acting police chief of Biñan City where the hazing rites took place.

“The suspect Mr. Perry’s participation was that he was present from the very beginning (of the hazing rite) until the burial of the victim’s cadaver. He very well knows that Salilig had died (of hazing),” Jopia said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Dela Cruz appeared at the inquest proceedings for Perry as a complainant.

In an earlier interview with reporters in Laguna, he said that the four of them, as neophytes, endured at least 70 blows with a paddle, including a “thank you hit,” from the fraternity men during the “welcoming rites.”

He also recalled how their backs were riddled with candle drippings shaped by their “brods” in the form of their fraternity logo.

In another development, Gregorio Cruz, the father of one of the persons of interest, had been cleared by DOJ prosecutors of obstruction of justice. He was released from police custody Friday night. –  Ed Amoroso, Emmanuel Tupas, Marc Jayson Cayabyab