DBP official laid to rest

MANILA, Philippines - Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) lawyer Benjamin Pinpin was buried at the Loyola Memorial Park in Parañaque City yesterday.

Pinpin, 43, was found dead in a Las Piñas hotel Tuesday. Police ruled his death as suicide. In a suicide note he left in his vehicle, he asked forgiveness for taking his life and said he was made to sign an affidavit that was far from the truth.

“Benjie must have been overwhelmed by a darkened situation that he decided to end his life,” Fr. Dennis Batacando said.

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman has asked DBP officials to disclose the affidavits signed by Pinpin to determine if DBP investigators “went overboard” in obtaining statements from the lawyer.

According to reports, Pinpin became upset after he was about to be investigated for a P510-million loan granted to a businessman during the past administration.

In his homily during the Mass at the Holy Trinity chapel, Batacando said he knew Pinpin as a devout Catholic and a God-fearing person who regularly attended Mass at the Five Wounds of Jesus parish in Talon, Las Piñas.

The priest refused to mention the word suicide, saying it is not how a person died but how he lived his life that determines if he is worthy to enter heaven.

He said Pinpin will be welcomed in heaven because he is sure that before his last breath, the lawyer may have uttered the words, “My Lord forgive me.”

Batacando said each time he saw Pinpin, the lawyer would raise his hand and smile. He added that this was the way Pinpin interacted with people close to him. “He mastered the art of silent conversation,” he said.

Pinpin’s widow, Amy; mother, Evelynd; and two children refused to be interviewed but his relatives said the deceased was a dedicated lawyer and family man who neither drank nor smoked.

An uncle said Pinpin was a consistent honor student in grade school and loved to play basketball and badminton.

Top DBP officials and Pinpin’s officemates attended the burial. DBP lawyers from all regions were also there, according to a division chief who requested anonymity. “The rank and file employees of DBP mourn the death of (Attorney) Pinpin,” he said.