The Manila Police District (MPD) on Tuesday revealed that there was a conflict in the statement given by the person who found 22-year-old Horacio “Atio” Castillo III’s body.
In an interview with DZMM on the show Kabayan, MPD Spokesperson Superintendent Erwin Margarejo said that there was an inconsistency with the statement by 21-year-old John Paul Solano.
“Medyo nagkaroon ng conflict dahil ang oras na binanggit ni John Paul Solano nung nakita niya ang bangkay, nung ni-review ang CCTV [footage], wala namang bangkay sa pinangyarihan ng insidente kaya nag-validate na rin po tayo sa ibang statement na binigay ni John Paul Solano (There was a slight conflict on John Paul Solano’s statement in which the time he mentioned of discovering the body did not match with the reviewed CCTV footage. No body was found on the site of incident, so we are still validating his statement),” the spokesperson said.
Solano in his statement said that he found Castillo III’s body along Honorio Lopez Boulevard and Infanta Street, Balut, Tondo, and rushed to Chinese General Hospital where the latter was proclaimed dead-on-arrival.
According to an article by Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), some residents of Barangay 133 are wondering why it had to be Chinese General Hospital when Tondo General Hospital is nearer.
In addition, the article said that when MPD asked variety stores near the area where Castillo III was found, they said that there was no such incident on Sunday morning.
Further, Barangay 133 zone 11 reviewed the CCTV footage from of 7:50 am by the time mentioned by Solano, but there was no commotion or body in the said footage.
Barangay Kagawad Daniel Sayson said that there was a CCTV footage but of another incident which was the gunning of a truck porter around 5:45-7:00 am until the said truck porter’s body was removed.
While Margarejo stressed that most parts of the investigation are still being verified, they asked Solano’s provided workplace – San Lazaro Hospital.
“Apparently, nakakuha tayo ng information d’un, ayaw nila i-under oath, ayaw nila magpakilala (we got an information but they did not want to say it under oath, they did not want to identify themselves),” he clarified.
The mentioned information said that Solano works as a part-timer in the said hospital as a medical technologist and that he is a law student from University of Santo Tomas (UST) as well.
Castillo III’s bloodied body was found covered in linen. His cause of death was hematoma due to traumatic injuries that triggered his cardiac and respiratory arrest.
He told his parents that he would be attending the welcoming rites of the fraternity Aegis Juris at the UST campus on Saturday. His last text with his mother was him confirming that he was in the Campus on Saturday night.