DBP lawyer found dead in hotel

MANILA, Philippines - A Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) lawyer was found dead in a Las Piñas hotel yesterday.

DBP officials confirmed reports that Benjamin Pinpin was found dead at the Eurotel Hotel in Las Piñas City.

DBP chairman Jose Nuñez Jr. and the members of the bank’s board of directors have expressed their condolences to the family of Pinpin, a member of the bank’s documentation unit, who hanged himself at the hotel yesterday.

The bank’s management initiated a search for Pinpin when his family reported that the lawyer did not return home Monday night.

Pinpin reported for work late Monday at the government financial institution based in Makati City after dropping off his two children at school. He never returned home.

Police investigators said a clutch bag was found at his home, which contained three suicide notes – for his wife, his mother and his two kids.

A large number of documents related to his work at the DBP were also recovered in his home.

Sources said that the suicide notes showed his apparent regret for “signing affidavits that destroyed my life.”

 Bank sources said that the DBP management has been “quietly” conducting an investigation of possible anomalies within the bank.

“President Francisco del Rosario Jr., the whole DBP Board, and I are in agreement that Atty. Pinpin is a key player in the DBP legal office and a big loss to the bank. In fact, Benjie is a second-generation DBP employee. His mother was the DBP dentist,” Nuñez said.

“We are waiting for the police report of his passing which, if initial reports are to be believed, are under unusual circumstances,” Nuñez added.

“The bank is in the midst of a crucial investigation concerning previous questionable transactions and Atty. Pinpin had an important role in the process. So we are hoping that his passing had nothing to do with that,“ Nuñez said.