NBI chief Opinion dies

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Federico Opinion died of kidney failure and diabetes at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City yesterday afternoon. He was 62.

Opinion died with his wife, Carmelina and children Federico III, Fedelina Opinion-Sanduco, Fortune and Freida Ann by his hospital bed.

Clarrisa Gonzalez, Opinion’s personal secretary, told reporters yesterday the NBI director was too weak to undergo a kidney transplant operation.

Opinion’s son-in-law had already agreed to donate one of his kidneys for the operation, she added.

Opinion was confined at the National Kidney Institute last Nov. 7.

Opinion’s remains lie at Funeraria Paz on Araneta Avenue in Quezon City. They will be transferred to the NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue in Manila after three days.

The funeral arrangements will be made by Dr. Maximo Reyes, chief of the NBI medico-legal division.

Opinion was named NBI director by President Estrada last Sept. 26. He became acting NBI director in May last year after his predecessor, Santiago Toledo, died of a heart attack.

Toledo’s predecessor, Antonio Aragon, also died in office.

Opinion was born in Mandurriao, Iloilo City on Sept. 29, 1938. He joined the NBI in 1964. – Mike Frialde