Bizarre twist following hazing death

Doc in UP student’s hazing death disappears

The doctor who brought the body of an alleged hazing victim to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City on Monday has gone into hiding.

A source told ABS-CBN News that Dr. Francisco Cruz, a VMMC physician, went on “emergency leave.”

It was Cruz who brought the body of Cris Anthony Mendez to the hospital.

VMMC declined to issue a statement on Cruz’s alleged involvement to the death of Mendez, who was reportedly being recruited to join the Sigma Rho fraternity in the University of the Philippines’s College of Law.

ABS-CBN correspondent Adrian Ayalin learned that Cruz lives in Congressional Village in Quezon City. A check with the subdivision security guard and a call to Cruz’s home confirmed this.

Cruz called up Cruz’s home again on Thursday but the woman who answered the phone said he has yet to return.

It was also learned that Cruz has a son named “Miko” who studies law in UP. The law student is reportedly a Sigma Rho member.

Ariel Paul Ante, chairman of the student council of the UP National College of Public Administration  and Governance, meanwhile, has also disappeared.

Ante was identified as the one who recruited Mendez into the fraternity.

The 20-year-old Mendez, a graduating student, was declared dead-on-arrival at the VMMC early Monday morning.

Reports said he was brought to the hospital by a man identified as “Dr. Francisco Cruz.” The man was in a white van with license plate ZAB-393, which was followed by two other vehicles, among which was another vehicle with license plate XAS-548.

Reports said Mendez was already pale and unresponsive when he reached the hospital and that he had bruises all over his body, particularly on the back of his arms and thighs.

Mendez, who hailed from Tiaong, Quezon, is the eldest in the family. With a report from the Philippine Star