Cop insists beauty queen’s dad committed suicide

TUGUEGARAO , Philippines  – Forensic and ballistics tests conducted on the body of the father of Miss World Philippines 2015 Hillarie Danielle Parungao showed the man committed suicide, an official said yesterday.

Chief Inspector James Bag-ey – who heads the crime laboratory in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya – told The STAR the bullet that pierced the skull of Edmundo Parungao from his mouth hit the ceiling of the Solano police station.

Bag-ey said traces of blood and a few strands of hair were found in a hole in the ceiling created by the bullet. 

The beauty queen said she did not believe that her father took his life.

The elder Parungao reportedly grabbed the service firearm of his police escort, Police Officer 2 Marck Baccay, and shot himself at the Solano police station.

Parungao was arrested during a sting in Barangay Osmeña.

Parungao reportedly complained of chest pain, prompting authorities to remove his handcuffs to bring him to a hospital.

Bag-ey said the absence of gunpowder burns on the victim’s hands was due to the position and trajectory of the firing.

Since the gun used was new, no traces of nitrate can necessarily be found when it was fired only once, he said.

Although Baccay tested negative for paraffin, Bag-ey said the results of the forensic and ballistics tests are not conclusive.

 “I could only assume that Parungao was more likely to have shot himself based on evidence at hand,” Bag-ey said.

Several people witnessed Parungao’s alleged suicide, according to Chief Inspector Billy Mangali, Solano police chief.