The Failon Case Probe Continues
Trina Arteche Etong’s mortal remains are being cremated as I write this post.
In his tearful eulogy to Trina, Ted said the anguish he and his children is going through is almost unbearable.
He paid tribute to his late wife saying, “I owe who I am today to Trina and now I am at a loss as to how I will raise my younger daughter Karishma in the same way Trina brought up our first born daughter, Kaye.”
He beseeched The Lord for guidance and to give Trina’s soul eternal repose.
While I never met Ted Failon’s wife, all accounts have portrayed her as a truly good mother and faithful wife to Ted.
My heart goes out to Ted and his children as they try to move on having lost the light in their lives in so tragic a manner.
The investigation into just what happened on the morning Trina sustained the fatal gunshot wound to her head is yet uncompleted.
Yesterday, Ted went before the Quezon City Fiscal to contest the charge that he obstructed justice because he did not report the shooting incident and did not turn over his wife’s mobile phone to police.
In his affidavit, the popular news anchor said the complaint of the police had no basis as no crime had been committed and his wife phone was protected under the principle of privacy of communications.
We have little choice but to hope that the NBI will not drop the ball like the Quezon City police did and that the lingering recrimiiations, and suspicions, give way to fully uncovering the truth.
May Trina Etong find the unending peace that eluded her in life.
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In all honesty, I'd rather have this discussion in a more general term, instead of focusing on Ted Failon's case.
Two scenarios, and two avenues of critical thinking and analysis should be waged, restricting ourselves away from the case itself, because indeed, the investigation is ongoing, and in terms of the Failon family, this is also a personal issue that they will have to endure and resolve. This does not mean, we cannot discuss the merits and important issues inherent in this case.
Now, the two scenarios in question that should be focused on is the ineptitude of the entire police force itself, and the culture of un-professionalism, and sometimes illegalities that can occur..
And the other scenario is that of the emotional distress of suicide and other family problems that are inherent therein.
The question of our confidence in our own police to proceed in all cases in a non-political, non-partisan, and legal means has to be looked at. The fact is that the perception of many Filipinos is negative in this aspect, and it will continue to be so, until The Police structure itself is made accountable for their many failings in protecting and serving the body politic.
When we are inundated with cases of human rights violations, suspicion of extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, and sloppy investigations and other shady police operations, this takes away from our own confidence in our own police.
When in many parts of The Philippines, the citizenry is unsure whether to be more fearful of the police or of The NPAs, then that is something of concern. In many parts of our Archipelago, I would argue that there are cases of a sporadic situation and characteristics of a Failed State, where our own local government cannot provide basic protection for our citizenry. that in my mind, is what we should be focusing on as well.
The reports of such inadequateness of our police to conduct proper investigations and to stick to strict implementation of proper guidelines and even obvious actions to contain many crime scenes, is a symptom of a wider sickness of The Police structure itself. It has become intertwined with too much politics, beholden to the feudal system of politics in many localities, so much so, that the police are no longer in the service of the greater public good, but rather in the service of the greater political good — no matter what politics is being displayed, this should never be the case. But they are not made accountable, and the ranks follow suit.
The Police, like many institutions in The Philippines, suffer a lack of many needed foundations, such that in many cases, it is no longer follows its own creed of protecting and serving the citizens. It has become inefficient, and useless for even the most basic need of protection. And what more, many politicians will keep it this way, in order to game the system and protect their own interests.
When the police goes astray of its most basic goal, the citizenry should be allowed the proper forum to address these grievances, but like many things in life, government is interconnected, and when the proper forum are places such as THE DOJ, local courts, then, and as is often the case, they are still screwed by the system because, even in these institutions, everything is politicized.
that my friends, I submit, should be the focus.. The Police structure.. and to no lesser degree, the impact of suicide and other tragic events on the grieving family…
We are on the exact same page.
Beyond any emotionalism, there are lessons which can and should be learned both in manner police conduct their affairs and also how the news media carry out their reportage and analysis/commentary on events as they unfold, particularly in cases involving public figures.
Offhand, if we read the comparative table of suicide rates across the globe, we find Philippines a mere 2.5% compared to the highest of about 69%. Furthermore, there are countries that criminalizes suicide as there are others that do not. And Philippines, I think, does not criminalize suicide.
Again, if we read parameters or criteria for conduct of arrests by police, then we see that they generally follow certain general truths and legal principles as would be found in other societies. But the PNP may yet publish or draft a Criteria of Arrest of its own since it looks like it does not have one yet.
Congress may revisit PD 1829 to see whether or not this law ought to be repealed for utter lack of use. In all its 28 years of existence, the Supreme Court so far has adjudicated only 4 to 5 of such cases that violate the decree that must have been formulated in the context of a constitutionally authoritarian regime. In other words, it may be time to flash the law into the toilet sink, in a manner of speaking.
Maybe not so much the Fourth Estate any more than the police which fails to conduct constitutionally-attuned arrest. It's simple really.
The proud and arrogant but extremely dumb focused on human rights than on sloppy invistigation. I thought the 4th estate are intelligent. It's the bloggers who are asking journalist question more than the journalists on the beat on the ground and the editors not asking …
lav ya 4th estate. May your dumbness strive
Trining cremated? There goes our piece of evidence. Ted is quick to the draw in cahoots with pekeng-peryodistas turning blind eye. 1stly, Ted hired CIA-trained special ops Biohazard specialists masquerading as houseslaves. These houseslaves cleaned the whole place of traces of death in 4 hours under. It's a feat. Must have a lot of experience. 2ndly, the houseslaves are harvardU-graduates, too. They cleaned the place and put back the gun where it was allegeldy found. someone has to explain to me, ME ONLY, why they clean and put back the gunwheere it was found. 3rdly, Trining is cremated. polis cannot know if she took anti-depressant mixed with alcohol which is deadly. No blood alcohol level check. No intense autopsy. Ted is quick! polis is slow. 3rdly the pekeng-peryodistas are trying to divert the people from my 1st two points by attacking the police for human rights violation instead of sloppy invistigation . PEKENG-PERYODISTAS PROTECT THEIR OWN DUMBNESS
The QCPD Nazi Storm Troopers and Gestapos had their day. Is this the kinds of Law Enforcers we are
producing from the Police Academy and PMA? We should send them back for reeducation on Due Process
of Law and Bill of Rights. They dont know anything about these laws. They dont have good understanding also
on the Obstruction of Justice law.
We would never spend our hard earned taxpayers pesos on these kinds of public servants.
Witchhunt has started http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/na... AS USUAL!!!! HA!HA!HA!
There was a driver, there was a maid, there was a 12 year old child and nobody heard a thing. Nobody saw 3 people. HA!HA!HA!HA! SO MUCH HAS CHANGED … HA!HA!HA!HA!
IT'S NO WONDER Amerikanos insisted Cpl Smith has to be acquitted because our invistigators and justice system and pekeng-peryodistas are extremely gung-gong …. HA!HA!HA!HA!