Probe leading to suicide - NBI

MANILA, Philippines – It’s looking like the death of Trinidad Arteche-Etong, wife of ABS-CBN news anchor Ted Failon, is a suicide.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) spokesman Ricardo Diaz admitted their initial findings point to a suicide.

Diaz also confirmed Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez’s statement that financial problems might have driven Trinidad to end her life.

“It seems that way. That (financial problems) may have been the reason,” Diaz said in Filipino.

Diaz also downplayed the possibility of murder or homicide.

“It is unlikely,” he said. “This (murder or homicide) is not supported by evidence.”

“Although it (investigation) is not yet finished, it seems all roads are leading to suicide,” Diaz said.

Diaz explained their exhaustive forensics, autopsy and medico-legal examinations all point to suicide.

Diaz though said he has yet to see the results of the ballistic tests on the .380 Walther PPK handgun used in the shooting.

The NBI and the Philippine National Police (PNP) last week subjected the handgun to a ballistics test to match the slug and the spent shell recovered at the scene.

Diaz said the NBI would come out with the final report on Friday next week.

He said more than 60 percent of their investigation has been finished.

Gonzalez disclosed the other day that a friend of Trinidad revealed before investigators that the victim had a financial problem before she was found with a gunshot wound in her head inside their house in Quezon City.

Gonzalez said the NBI has taken the statements of Joy Tan.

Failon, Mario Teodoro Failon Etong in real life, maintained his wife committed suicide because of financial problems.

Trinidad’s relatives and the household helpers also supported Failon’s claim of suicide.

Gonzalez said NBI investigators could not disregard Tan’s testimony because she had been talking to Trinidad several days before the fatal shooting.

“That can be a circumstance (for the angle of suicide) if we give that story a degree of truth because that is based on the impressions of the one giving the statement,” he said.

Gonzalez, however, clarified Trinidad’s alleged financial problems do not necessarily mean the NBI is ruling out murder or parricide.

“This is not the conclusion of the NBI. Those kinds of statements are easy to prepare so they don’t become very persuasive,” he said.

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD), which initially handled the investigation of the case, charged Failon and his relatives with obstruction of justice.

Police said there was an apparent attempt to cover up the incident since the shooting was reported to the police by the management of New Era Hospital where Trinidad was initially rushed for treatment, and not by Failon.

Police had Failon’s in-laws and household helpers arrested for allegedly preventing the investigators from going into the hospital ward where Trina was confined.

The scuffle with the arresting lawmen at the hospital, which was shown on national television, triggered an outcry that forced the suspension of the policemen involved in the arrest.

Their lawyer, Jay Borromeo, said the involved QCPD policemen “stand to lose a lot” because of the one-month suspension on them, which came before they were formally charged.

“There should have been a hearing first (before the suspension was handed out)... We just want the Napolcom (National Police Commission) to look at the facts first,” Borromeo said.

Borromeo insisted the suspension should be based on “stipulation of facts” and not on news reports.

“Without corroboration, these are just hearsay,” he argued.

Borromeo said the policemen were just performing their duties under the “presumption of regularity” instead of presuming they exceeded their authority that warranted the suspension.

He said Failon and his in-laws could not even dispute the fact that they were taken into custody while they were advised of their rights. He said there were witnesses and lawyers when the arrest was made.

“There was also no excessive force in this case. What the police exerted was just reasonable force,” he said. – With Reinir Padua