The late wife of ABS-CBN news anchor Ted Failon tested negative for gunpowder residue, but the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) clarified that they cannot use the paraffin test result to rule out claims that Trinidad Arteche-Etong committed suicide.

"We cannot conclude right away that she did not commit suicide because she tested negative... The investigation continues," QCPD chief Senior Superintendent Elmo San Diego announced during a press conference Friday at Camp Karingal in Quezon City.

San Diego said it would have been easier to prove the suicide theory if Mrs. Etong's paraffin test turned out positive.

He said the QCPD's investigation now shifts to determining if the cleaning of the bloodstains from the bathroom where Mrs. Etong was found and other parts of Failon's house in Tierra Pura Subdivision was done to cover up a crime.

The police have filed obstruction of justice charges against Failon, his driver Glenn Polan, household helpers Carlota Morbos, Wilfred Bollecer, Pacifico Apacible, and Mrs. Etong's sister, Pamela Arteche-Trinchera.

"We have shifted from the obstruction of justice issue to determining if the altering of the crime scene was deliberate," he said, adding that after looking into a possible cover-up, they will look into the possibility that parricide was committed.

Meaningless practice

Dr. Raquel Fortun, associate professor of the University of the Philippines' Department of Pathology, said paraffin casting is a meaningless method to determine whether a person fired a gun or not.

Fortun said paraffin tests were already stopped by several countries since the 1960s since its results cannot be used as evidence in court.

"Kaya nila itinapon ang test na iyan because it doesn't mean anything. It does not tell kung ang tao na ito ay nagpaputok ng baril o hindi," she said.

She said a paraffin test result is not only "so weak," but it also creates bias in the investigation. She added that there is no way to check and recheck the results of paraffin testing.

The professor explained that paraffin testing is done by police investigators in the Philippines to look for nitrate residues, which is a an ingredient of gunpowder.

However, she said nitrate residues can also come from the environment and commonly-used items such as make-up.

Comparing results

Dr. Filemon Porciuncula, team leader of the police crime scene investigation, said that they will compare the paraffin test result of Mrs. Etong with the results of the autopsy conducted by the police crime laboratory.

Porciuncula said that hopefully, they will be able to prove from the cross checking how the gun found at the "scene of the incident" was fired. He added that they have yet to determine the entry and the exit point of the bullet that went through Mrs. Etong's temple.

Initial autopsy report by the New Era General Hospital said the bullet entered Mrs. Etong's left temple and exited on the right side of her head.

Thorough investigation

San Diego, meanwhile, assured that the QCPD is investigating Mrs. Etong's death very thoroughly. He said the police have been trying to avoid distractions so they can come up with a credible investigation result.

He said that "slowly, but surely" the police will be able to answer all the blurred areas of the investigation.

"This is the essence of the investigation. This is the reason why we have to be thorough," he said, adding that the police are doing all it can to "calm" things down.

The police chief also promised to look into allegations that QCPD personnel used excessive force during the arrests of Failon's in-laws and household helpers on Thursday.

Who took the gun?

Superintendent Franklin Mabanag, head of the QCPD's criminal investigation unit, said it was Failon who turned over the gun to him. He said the gun was already "holstered" when Failon handed him the firearm.

Mabanag added that Failon gave him the gun with the deformed slug and the blank bullet shell, which were apparently extracted from the bathroom where Mrs. Etong was found.

The police officer added that initial investigations showed that it was Failon's driver who took the gun away from the bathroom. He said they did not know when or how Polan took the gun.

However, in a sworn statement executed by Apacible, one of the household helpers charged for obstruction of justice, said he was the one who took the gun from the bathroom. He said he returned the gun to the master's bedroom's "dresser."

Apacible also admitted cleaning Mrs. Etong's blood in the bathroom with Bollecer. He said they wiped the bloodstains at the bathroom and house stairs and floors to protect Failon's youngest daughter, Karishma, from being traumatized.

Failon's shirt

Porciuncula said the police are now in the process of conducting gunpowder tests on the shirt Failon was wearing when he discovered his bloodied wife inside the bathroom of their daughter's bedroom.

Failon also tested negative for gunpowder residue, but police said they still cannot say whether Failon had nothing to do with his wife's death.

“Ted Failon’s [paraffin] test yielded a negative result, but that’s not conclusive. We still have to conduct a thorough investigation… He is under our custody,” Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales, Metro Manila police chief, told reporters at Camp Caringal in Quezon City on Thursday.