PAO's Acosta fetches Failon from QC cop station
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 04/16/2009 9:04 AM
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Public Attorney's Office chief Percida Acosta on Thursday morning fetched ABS-CBN news anchor Ted Failon from the Quezon City Police District's (QCPD) headquarters, where he and his househelpers stayed for eight hours to provide police statements about the incident involving the broadcast journalist's wife.
Radio dzMM's Jun Lingcoran said Failon, accompanied by his daughter Kaye, lawyers and Acosta, left the police headquarters around 7:45 a.m. and rushed to the New Era General Hospital to visit his wife, who was still in critical condition.
Failon, whose full name is Mario Teodoro Failon Etong, went to the police station 11:45 p.m. Wednesday after being asked by the police to undergo paraffin test and provide them with a statement together with members of his household.
In an interview over dzMM, Acosta said people close to Failon called her up early in the morning and asked her to proceed to the police station to notarize the news anchor's statement.
Reports said the police told Failon that he can not leave the station without his statement being notarized.
'Police team sent to hospital'
Superintendent Gerardo Ratuita, head of the QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, was irked with Failon's leaving the police station without his knowledge. He said he was in a case conference with Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag when Failon and his party left.
"Iyon ang pinagtataka namin bakit nagpupumilit silang makaalis eh hindi pa tapos ang imbestigasyon. Hindi ho namin alam na umalis sila," Ratuita said, adding that he was only informed by an investigator after Failon's group left the police station.
The police officer said they asked Failon to remain at the police station because they were still waiting for the result of his paraffin test.
Ratuita hinted that the police are considering him as a suspect. He said they want to determine why Failon took the gun and brought it away from the "crime scene."
Failon told ABS-CBN in an interview that he saw his wife lying in "a pool of blood" inside one of his Tierra Pura home's bathroom. He said his wife committed suicide probably because the family's financial problem.
The police officer said he had ordered a team of policemen to fetch Failon from the New Era hospital.
A radio dzMM report said at least 10 policemen and policewomen arrived at the hospital past 8 a.m. As of posting, Failon and his daughter were at the side of his wife, who is confined at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.
'Respect Failon's situation'
Acosta, meanwhile, denied radio reports that she "slipped" Failon out of the police station. She said the policewoman investigating Failon's case -- Police Officer 3 Joy Marcelo -- allowed her to fetch the news anchor and his daughter and bring them to the wife -- Trinidad Archete-Etong.
She said that since there were still no charges filed against Failon, the news anchor has the right to leave the police station
"Wala namang sentensya ito. Walang warrant [of arrest]. Wala pa naman pong kasong nakasampa, kung further investigation 'di imbestigahan," Acosta said.
She said she was not preventing the police to further investigate Failon, but asked the authorities to allow the news anchor to be with his wife and daughters "for humanitarian consideration."
"Maaring sana ay respetuhin ang sitwasyon ng pamilya niya at may mga bata siyang anak na dalawang babae na kailangan ng isang ama," the public defender said.
Acosta added that the police should not panic with Failon's leaving the police station because the new anchor has no intentions of hiding from the authorities.
"Hindi naman nagtatago si Mr. Failon at nandito sa ospital kasama ang asawa na agaw buhay," she added.
