STATEMENT BY THE HONORABLE
BERNADETTE “BH†HERRERA-DY
Bagong Henerasyon Party-list
Chair, Committee on Public Information
ANTI-HAZING BILL PRINCIPAL AUTHOR CALLS FOR DISBARMENT PROBE, IMMIGRATION WATCHLIST PLACEMENT OF LAWYERS IN ALLEGED ATIO HAZING COVER-UP
As a principal author of the House version of the new Anti-Hazing Bill, I add my voice to the growing public clamor for accountability and disbarment of the lawyers who investigators have been identified as among those who have planned to cover up the hazing death of Horacio “Atio†Castillo, III.
Accountability, responsibility, and the high risk of cover up were precisely among the reasons for the tougher and finer provisions of the new Anti-Hazing Bill.
Now the public is informed of social media evidence that point to specific personalities, who happen to be lawyers, expressly conspiring to cover up Atio Castillo’s hazing death.
I urge the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Supreme Court of the Philippines to conduct motu proprio administrative investigation of the said lawyers and preventively suspend these lawyers from the practice of the legal profession while their investigation is pending.
I also urge the Department of Justice to place these lawyers on the Immigration lookout watch list. If and when those lawyers are formally charged and preliminary prosecutorial investigation is underway, perhaps a hold departure order would be proper to make sure those lawyers do not flee.
For now, the provisions of the current anti-hazing law and of the Cybercrime law would suffice to hold those lawyers accountable for their actions. I again urge my colleagues in Congress to expedite passage of the new Anti-Hazing Bill. (END)
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