Daza: We broke up over money

MANILA, Philippines - Former Quezon City congresswoman Nanette Castelo-Daza and her boyfriend, Noel Orate, broke up over money, she said in her affidavit filed before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday.

Daza’s lawyer, Alfredo Villamor, said the former lawmaker’s affidavit stated that Orate had allegedly been borrowing money from her in the duration of their relationship.

Daza claimed she had given Orate money to pay for his apartment rental, utilities and even car repair.

But on the day they broke up in January, Orate allegedly asked for P60,000, which she refused to shell out. This allegedly prompted Orate to call it quits. She claimed she eventually gave Orate the amount, but told him it would be the last time.

Following the breakup, Orate had allegedly been sending text messages to Daza, wanting to get back together with her, even purportedly threatening to kill himself if she did not agree to reconcile with him.

According to Villamor, this showed Orate’s “state of mind,” which he said supported their claim that Orate held the Daza family hostage on the night he was killed.

Daza’s son-in-law, Allan Robes, claimed he shot Orate in self-defense. He is facing a reinvestigation by the fiscal after Orate’s family insisted the charge filed against Robes in court should have been murder, not homicide.

The NBI is also conducting a reinvestigation of the crime.