Obstruction of justice raps vs Failon, helpers dismissed

MANILA, Philippines – The Quezon City prosecutors’ office dismissed yesterday the obstruction of justice charges filed by the Quezon City police district against news anchor Ted Failon, his sister-in-law and members of the household for insufficiency of evidence in the death last April of Failon’s wife Trinidad Arteche-Etong.

In a 10-page joint resolution, assistant prosecutors Mary Jane Pamittan and Alfredo Agcaoili ruled that since there was still no crime established the respondents cannot be held liable for obstruction of justice.

Meanwhile, the final report on the investigation on the controversial death of Mrs. Etong will be out on Monday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.

Failon’s wife allegedly shot herself in the head inside their Quezon City home last April 15. The report will reveal why she allegedly committed suicide.

Cleared from the obstruction of justice charges aside from Failon are Mario Teodoro Etong, Carlota Morbos, Fridad Bollicer, Pacifico Apacible, Glen Polan and Pamela Arteche-Trinchera.

“In this particular case we are inclined to sustain the assertion of the respondents that it must be determined first that a crime had been committed before they cannot be held liable for obstruction of justice,” the resolution said.

The resolution also said that since the respondents contended that Trinidad committed suicide, there was no crime and their acts of cleaning blood and other activities after the incident were done in good faith.

“As far as respondent Etong is concerned, there was no evidence that he prevented all the other respondents from reporting the shooting incident,” the resolution said.

The resolution, however, recognized the efforts of the police to ferret out the truth behind Trinidad’s death.

Jay Borromeo, lawyer for the Quezon City policemen, said they would first get a copy of the resolution issued by the prosecutor dismissing the charges before they could determine their next move.

Borromeo said filing a motion for reconsideration for the case to be pursued remains an option.

“If it’s the lack of evidence (as the basis for the dismissal), we could present more evidence. This would not fall under the danger of double jeopardy since the case is still at the fiscal level,” Borromeo added.

In an interview yesterday, lawyer Ricardo Diaz, spokesperson of the NBI and chief of the NBI Anti-Terrorism Division (ATD), reiterated that in their investigation on Trinidad’s death, all roads led to the suicide angle. Diaz said this is not yet their official statement “but all the evidence gathered seemed to be leading to this.”

“Officially, we have evidence in the NBI based on the investigation. The problem or reason for the death was allegedly due to financial problems, specifically on investment problems (made by Trinidad),” said Diaz.

“Money was lost mostly in these failed investments. She was boxed in (by financial problems),” Diaz said.

“I don’t want to jump the gun here. But these will be contained in the report,” he said.

Diaz also dismissed rumors that Trinidad was also involved in “casino problems.” He said this was never substantiated in their investigation, stressing that only the information on failed investments came up.

Diaz also cautioned the public not to believe in rumors.

He said that there has been complication in the handling of the case.

He said Failon has a lot of enemies and they have probably spread rumors about him to muddle the investigation.

But in the NBI, he said they base everything on factual evidence only.

As of yesterday, he said that the status of their investigation is still ongoing. “We have been investigating for about two weeks now,” said Diaz.

He said the medico-legal and ballistics tests are already finished, while the handwriting examination is still ongoing. “All of these investigations will be done by Friday. So we could come up with a result of the investigation the following Monday. We would like to finish this as soon as possible,” said Diaz.

He said the house helpers have also been invited again by the NBI for additional investigation. The house helpers already gave statements to the police, but these are still incomplete, he said.

Pamela Arteche, the victim’s sister, and Joy Tan, her friend, have also given their statements to the NBI.

Forensics examination is also still being conducted.

The NBI also identified the former policeman who allegedly gave wrong information to investigators, said Diaz.

He also said that it came out in their investigation that the NBI and the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) reports jibed in their investigations, like the details on the trajectory of the bullet. The entrance of the bullet was on the right side of the head, and exited on the left, they found out.

Diaz also said they have yet to see the autopsy report of Dr. Rachel Fortun, the expert hired by the Failon family to conduct autopsy on Trinidad.  – With Reinir Padua, Sandy Araneta