Legal Counsel of Atio: there;s a cover up!

                      The legal counsel of the family of University of Santo Tomas (UST) law freshman Horacio “Atio” Castillo III is calling on the Manila Police District (MPD) to investigate the embalming of the victim even before he underwent autopsy.

                      Atty. Lorna Kapunan, in a radio interview, said she believes there is a coverup because Castillo was embalmed by Archangel Funeral Homes even before he underwent autopsy so they can no longer determine the time of death of the victim.

                    “Sino ang nag order ng embalming (Who ordered the embalming)? It was not the parents. Pag na-embalm na, mahirap na i-autopsy ‘yan, iba na ang result nyan (If already embalmed, it’s difficult to perform the autopsy, the result would be different),” Kapunan explained.
Archangel Funeral Homes embalmer Alvin Ballesteros said Atio’s body, which was still unidentified, was brought to them at 2 p.m. of Sept. 17 and was embalmed at 10 p.m.
MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel meanwhile assured that they are already reviewing the incident.

                    “I understand that his body was brought [to the funeral home] on Sunday and the body remains unidentified at that time. It was identified early hours of Monday,” Coronel said.
The MPD chief, during the Senate hearing last week, said police initially believed Atio was a victim of extrajudicial killing because then witness John Paul Solano said he found him wrapped in a blanket on a sidewalk in Tondo, Manila.

                    It was only early Monday that Atio was identified by his parents, who said their son went to UST on Saturday for an overnight “welcome rites” of Aegis Juris.
Kapunan, meanwhile, called on other members of the Aegis Juris fraternity to attend the preliminary investigation scheduled on Wednesday.


                  “Ang panawagan ng parents, wag naman nila sirain ang buhay nila. Sira na nga ang buhay nila because they cannot go back to school, meron pa silang charges [kaya] magsabi na sila ng totoo (The call of the parents is not to ruin their life. Their life is already ruined because they cannot go back to school, they have charges so they have to tell the truth),” she said. “Ito na ‘yung opportunity. Nailibing na nga ‘yung anak nila, sana wag namang ilibing ang katotohanan (This is the opportunity, My son was already buried, the truth should not be buried).”