I'ts Official from the NBI — May 21, 2009 — Trina Etong, Wife of Ted Failon, Committed Suicide

BREAKING NEWS

21 May 2009, 11:58am, Manila time

This just came in.  It's official news from the NBI.  Trina Etong, wife of ABS-CBN broadcaster Ted Failon committed suicide.

John Consulta of GMA-7 reported that NBI Director Nestor Mantaring has announced the findings in an ongoing press conference.  According to the NBI, it is impossible for Ted Failon to have done the shooting given the time frame of the incident.  It was disclosed, according to John Consulta's report that Trina asked a bank manager named Joy to falsify bank records to make it appear that her account still has a substantial balance.  The bank manager reportedly refused.

Here is the video clip of John Consulta's report courtesy of GMAnews.tv, mainit-init pa:

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

This is vindication for Ted Failon and his entire family.

To God be the glory!

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NBI Eyeing Suicide in the Shooting of Trina Etong

30 April 2009

"Our investigation is leaning to suicide but our probe is not yet over so we cannot categorically say it is suicide."  This is the statement that is being attributed by GMA Channel 7 reports to NBI spokesman Ric Diaz.  

I have not seen any video clip of this declaration by Mr. Ric Diaz but it appears to be compatible with recent developments in the Trina investigation.  

You will recall that no less than Kaye Failon has thanked the NBI for its professionalism. Coming from Kaye, that's telling a lot.  More recently, the test on the clothes that Ted Failon wore when he rushed Trina to the hospital on April 15 has yielded negative for gunpowder residue.  

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

We have to remember that criminal conviction requires proof of guilt "beyond reasonable doubt." 

The biggest doubt so far are the twin autopsies conducted on Trina wherein two forensic experts commissioned by Ted Failon himself, Drs. Erwin Erfe and Raquel Fortun, have given their expert opinions that Trina's wound was most probably self-inflicted.  The way the doubts have piled up and as proof required to secure a Ted Failon conviction diminishes, it is but to be expected that the NBI would want to slowly ease up on Ted and his family.  This is so especially because of the torment that the Failons have suffered at the hands of the Quezon City police. The NBI has nothing to gain if it publicly appears to be aggressively pursuing a murder, homicide or parricide case that has obviously lost a lot of its steam.

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"Nay, I Can't Wait to See You Again ..." — Kaye Failon

22 April 2009

In the eulogy prior to Trina's cremation this morning, Kaye Failon perhaps verbalized best her family's unimaginable anguish at the loss of her mother, Trinidad "Trina" Etong ... "'Nay, I Can't Wait to See You Again ..."    

'Nay, mami-miss ko yung amoy ng buhok mo.

mami-miss ko yung hawak ng kamay mo.

Nay, mamimiss ko yung halik mo sa 'kin na parang wala nang bukas.

Even Ted Failon has identified Kaye as the person bearing the brunt of the burden for their family right now. Ted himself came close to admitting that he is on the verge of giving up or even possibly shooting himself. He uttered these words in  Tagalog "minsan po iniisip ko ... magbabaril ako sa ulo ko..." (sometimes I think ... I will shoot myself in the head ...). It is a classic study in utter bereavement and despair.  I can imagine it to be similar to being physically free and yet feeling as if you're all alone, imprisoned in a dark, forbidding dungeon from which there is no escape. 

With the cremation of Trina's mortal remains, a chapter closes in the Failon family saga. Unfortunately, in spite of Kaye's appeal to the public that they be given time to rest and to be alone, I don't see any rest for them any time soon given that there are at least three investigations that Ted Failon and his household face. 

The first one is the ongoing preliminary investigation into the obstruction of justice case regarding the alleged tampering with the crime scene; the second one is the ongoing investigation by the NBI into the shooting death of Trina herself which it has assumed from the PNP; and the third one is the planned investigation by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) into the perceived excessive use of force by the QCPD.  

Emotional grief, spiritual anguish, physical exhaustion ... all of these intangible enemies are confronting the members of the Failon household by now. Depression, a deadly stalker, has obviously set in especially in the case of Ted Failon. Kaye, it appears to many, is made of sterner stuff. 

Let's continue praying for God's comforting grace to sustain Ted Failon, his daughters Kaye and Karishma and the rest of his family at this critical time.

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Many Filipinos Get to See Delfin Lee For the First Time Through ABS-CBN TV Patrol Report

22 April 2009

Hundreds of thousands if not millions of Filipinos had their first glimpse of the person first introduced to the public by DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzales simply as "Delfin Lee" in a news report by ABS-CBN.  According to Secretary Gonzales, he received a text message saying that Lee was in the Failon household at the time of the shooting and that he (Lee) helped Ted move the body of the seriously wounded Trina from their bedroom to the bathroom.

Delfin Lee is reportedly a longtime friend of Ted Failon and also of Vice President Noli De Castro.  This article by Sun Star Pampanga identifies Lee as the president and chief executive officer of Globe Asiatique Realty. Lee has denied that he was at the Failon residence at the time of the shooting.  I recall seeing Vice President Noli De Castro on TV say that he requested Lee to go to the Failon household upon learning of the incident because he could not contact Ted.  According to Lee, he reached Failon's house only in the afternoon of April 15, hours after the shooting incident happened.  He strongly denied the accusations emanating from the text message received and reported by Secretary Gonzales.

This is the picture of Lee that I took as his interview was being aired at ABS-CBN's TV Patrol.  I believe that showing this constitutes fair use of ABS-CBN's rights over their video.

Anyway, if there are objections from ABS-CBN, I'll promptly pull it down.

Any legal advice from my readers are most welcome.  Thanks a lot!

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