MANILA, Philippines – The family of suspected hazing victim Cris Anthony Mendez has filed a civil case against Dr. Francisco Cruz who brought the 21-year-old University of the Philippines student to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center last August where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Mendez’s mother, Cristina and his younger brother, Renz, are asking for P8 million in moral and exemplary damages, P140,000 in compensatory damages, attorney’s fees and litigation expenses.

Apart from Cruz, also charged with quasi-delict in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court were Cruz’s wife, Myrna and his son, Miguel Francisco or “Mico,” who is believed to have taken Mendez to the Cruzes’ house in Project 8, Quezon City before his father rushed the victim to the VMMC.

The Legal Dictionary website defines quasi-delict as “an act whereby a person, without malice, but by fault, negligence or imprudence not legally excusable, causes injury to another.”

According to the complaint filed by the Mendezes on Oct. 22, Cruz’s wife was implicated in the civil case “only to bind their marital properties in case favorable judgment is secured by the plaintiffs after the trial.”

Lawyer Joselito Oliveros, counsel for the complainants, said the case was “not about Cris’ wrongful death.”

“It is merely based on what the principal defendants, acting in concert, did and did not do after Cris died and the damages that the plaintiffs suffered because of them,” he explained.

According to him, his clients were not immediately informed by the respondents about Mendez’s death.

“They received information about his death around 11:45 p.m. of Aug. 27, or almost 23 hours after Cris was pronounced dead on arrival at the VMMC,” he said.

“The respondents immediately caused the release of Mendez’s body from the VMMC, after preventing its autopsy there, and had it brought to the funeral parlor (St. Peter Memorial Chapel) which they themselves chose and where they also had the body immediately embalmed. All these without the knowledge and permission of my clients,” the lawyer added.

He said that when Mendez’s family arrived at the funeral parlor at around 6 a.m. on Aug. 28, they saw Mendez’s body completely naked and embalmed. He said Mendez’s personal belongings, including his wallet, cell phone and even the clothes he was wearing, among other things, were gone.

“Apart from their sentimental value, these may contain valuable information that could help in the ongoing investigation concerning the victim’s death,” Oliveros said. “Plaintiffs place responsibility for the loss of these items on defendants’ shoulders because they were also the ones who had the actual physical custody of Cris before, during and after his death.”