The Case of Trinidad Etong

FACTS

Victim. Trinidad Arteche Etong, 45, wife of Mario Teodoro Failon Etong, a news anchor of ABS-CBN TV Patrol.

Declared Suspects. Mario Etong (husband), Glenn Ponan (resident driver), Carlota Morbos (housemaid), Wilfreda Bolleser (housemaid), and Pacifico Apacible (houseboy), Pamela Arteche (sister of victim)

Investigating Agencies. Quezon City Police District (QCPD), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)

Scene of Crime. Shooting occurred at the victim’s residence on 27 General Aquino Street, Tierra Pura Subdivision, Tandang Sora, Quezon City.  There were traces of blood found at the master’s bedroom, despite Mario initially asking invetigators not to go to the bedroom. These blood traces appeared not to be more than blood traces.

When Mario arrived from work, he went upstairs to check for her wife. He might have not found her in the Master’s bedroom because he went to her daughter Katrina’s room which was locked from the inside. He went down to ask househelp Carlota to get the key to Katrina’s. With the key, he asked Carlota to accompany him in opening the room. They were not able to find the victim inside the room but the rest room was locked from the inside. Mario asked Carlota to get the key for the rest room downstairs.

When they opened the rest room door, the victim was bathed in her own blood.

Police said that Mario friend and businessman Delfin Lee, a major ABS-CBN sponsor who donated houses as prizes, was in the house during the shooting incident. Text messages that circulated alleged that Lee helped Mario carry the dead body of the wounded victim to one of the bathrooms inside the house. But Lee denied his presence there.

Observations from the QCPD include: (1) Mario asked the police not to go to the master bedroom of the house (from statements of chief superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag). Police said to have found bloodstains in the master bedroom and the bedcovers were already clean at 3 PM QCPD arrival; (2) Point of impact of the bullet got located at the back of the toilet bowl in the bathroom (from statements of deputy CIDU chief Gerardo Ratuita); (3) no signs of blood splattered in the bathroom (from statements of deputy CIDU chief Ratuita).

Earlier, Ratuita explained to reporters that there were no signs of blood having splattered the bathroom walls despite the bullet having entered the left temple and exited the right temple.

He said that the slug was deformed, an indication that it had hit a hard object.

Wound. The bullet wound entered the left temple and exited in the right. Shooting occured at 10:30 AM on 15 April 2009. There is burning at the bullet’s entry point, indicating a close-ranged gunshot.

Gun. The slug recovered was deformed, indicating that it had hit a blunt object after passing through Trinidad’s head. There was no bullet marks on the wall of the bathroom where the victim was found. The bullet’s trajectory was downward. The point of ricochet was near the floor and investigators were puzzled why the point of ricochet was not level with the supposed point of entry of the bullet.

Mabanag said investigators have located the point of ricochet of the bullet behind the toilet bowl near the area where the victim was shot.

INVESTIGATION

At the time of the incident Mario was hosting his daily morning radio program on dzMM and the station has tapes to prove it.

A gardener and a housemaid at a nearby house did not hear a gunshot from Etong’s residence.

The Apaceble and Bolleser cleaned the bathroom where the victim was found while Ponan cleaned the Mitsubishi Pajero (license plate XPE-293) used to bring the victim to the hospital (New Era General Hospital) on their own initiative, not under orders of Mario. Mario, Ponan and Pamela (victim’s sister) brought the victim to the hospital.

Members of the household also claimed the gun (caliber .380 Walther PPK pistol) used in the shooting was found on the right side of the victim when she was discovered slumped inside the bathroom of the couple’s child on the second floor of the house.

Mario surrendered the gun to QCPD. He directly ordered the driver and the housemaids not to talk to the police. He had no scratch on his face nor bruise on his nose (superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of CIDG, reported Mario had “scratches on his face and the bruised nose”). 

The suspects tested negative for gunpowder burns and nitrates. But the victim too tested negative.

The victim made a financial investment which failed.

ANALYSIS

Indicators of Suicide

There is no clear motive yet for the husband to perform the crime, even indirectly. Losing that much money did not appear to trouble him; in fact, he appeared nonchalant about it and encourage his wife to let the loss go. He told his wife they could cope with the loss being once poor.

Indicators of Crime

The house personnel cannot still be cleared for lack of motive.  

The negative result for gunpowder burns and nitrates on the victim is an important information to consider if the test used is high reliability. Should suicide happened it would be inevitable that the victim would have tested positive. And since the suspects also tested negative, the results can indicate that someone who knows how to remove gunpowder and nitrate traces on the suspect skin must have done it.

However this is under the assumption that the paraffin test could reliably detect true act of gun firing, or at least pick up residues of gunpowder in samples. If the test is unreliable, then a negative result could not indicate either absence or presence of crime. Cautious law enforcement should have not used a test that is unreliable in the first place because of its potential to introduce so much confusion in understanding other evidences.

Still Neutral Facts

The direct order on house personnel not to talk to the police can be presumed to “when” not in the presence of a lawyer.

The extent of unreliability of the paraffin test determines how far the results on the suspects can be of use. If extremely unreliable, the test was unnecessary and only introduced confusion into the case.

REMARKS

Escape Nonsense. The accusation made by QCPD chief Vimar Barcellano of Mario’s “escape” was inappropriate and would have been avoided if he considered the humane side of the situation–a husband needs to be with his dying wife even if he was one of the suspects. This could have been avoided had Barcellano allowed Mario to go to the hospital accompanied with enough police personnel to secure him.

This QCPD attitude inevitably led to the QCPD blunder on 16 April 2009 when police operatives forcefully arrested the members of the Etong household and the Arteche siblings inside the hospital. DILG secretary and Napolcom chairman Reynaldo Puno and former president Joseph Estrada echoed this disappointment on 20 April 2009. Senators Panfilo Lacson and Francis Pangilinan voiced their displeasure earlier.

Gag Order. It would be a waste of time to file chargers against Mario on the direct gag order because it is proper that a lawyer needs to be around in the questioning. And it is also folly to proceed with this line of action, and on this time they can use to look for the real culprit if the case is not suicide.

QCPD Blunders. On 20 April 2009, QCPD superintendet Franklin Mabanag (chief of the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit) and his deput Gerardo Ratuita were relieved of their duties pending results of investigation conducted by the National Police Commission over the alleged foreceful arrest of members of the Etong household. 

This happened when QCPD personnel used excessive force in arresting Pamela Arteche and his brother Maximo (both are siblings of the victim) inside New Era General Hospital on 16 April 2009. Four other members of the CIDU have been earlier suspended for their involvement in the arrest. Too much enthusiasm and ignorance can be very dangerous indeed.

The QCPD has filed an obstruction of justice suit against the suspects without apparent review on the reasons why the househelpers did so. The present handling of NBI which provides benefit of the doubt on the househelpers for the cleaning should have been the line of approach that QCPD pursued. “We want to know why was it tampered. Was it intentional or was it done so as not to scare the kid (younger child of the Failons) there as they claimed? We will look into that,” said Arnel Dalumpines, head agent of the task force created to investigate the case.

On 17 April 2009, a report came out that reflects the QCPD attitude towards the case and Mario himself. The police behaviors causing suspicions include: (1) QCPD officers took group pictures and giggled behind Mario, while Mario took the paraffin test; (2) Fact-finding interview of Mario at Camp Karingal took 7 hours beyond the one-houre schedule to finish.

On 5 May 2009, the charges for obstruction of justice was dismissed by the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office because of insufficient evidence.

NBI Takeover. On 20 April 2009, NBI took over the lead in investigating the case. The first move of NBI leadership in allowing Mario to first grieve for his wife’s death, before involving him in the investigation, is a laudable one, and shows great professionalism in the agency. This development occurred at the heel of an ongoing investigation of the QCPD-CIDU blunders.

Indicators of Suicide: There are however indications that support suicide: (1) The money lost was huge and likely the investment was made without Mario knowing it. Thus the written apology letter. (2) The obvious state of mind of the victim before the shooting happened.

Indicators of Crime: But indications has surfaced on possible case of murder or homicide: (1) The victim tested negative in the paraffin test (which is impossible if suicide occurred) unless the body was cleaned thoroughly and effectively before samples were taken out.

UPDATES

NBI Says “It’s Suicide.” On 21 May 2009, NBI concluded its that Trinidad Etong committed suicide.

Rap vs. QCPD. Failon lawyer, Atty. Alfredo Molo, also announced that talks will start on the filing of case for violent arrest of the Failon household members against QCPD. The policemen also insinuated that Failon killed his own wife based on insufficient evidence. Such an embarassing outcome of incompetence.

CONCLUSION

Case Closed: SUICIDE