What Went Before: The Lenny Villa case
In November 1993, Judge Adoracion Angeles of the Caloocan Regional Trial Court found 26 members of the Ateneo law fraternity Aquila Legis guilty of homicide for the February 1991 death of Leonardo “Lenny” Villa and sentenced them to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 14 years imprisonment.
Villa was a neophyte of Aquila Legis, a fraternity at the Ateneo de Manila Law School, who died after three days of bloody hazing rites. Villa, a first-year Ateneo student, died of serious physical injuries at Chinese General Hospital where he was rushed.
In January 2002, the Court of Appeals acquitted 19 of the 26 Aquila Legis fraternity members accused of killing Villa.
In exonerating the 19 accused, the court said there was no evidence of conspiracy among the leaders of Aquila Legis and that Villa was a “willing victim.”
Source: Inquirer Archives
