MANILA, Philippines ? The specter of an ?overkill? arrest by police ? possibly in the manner that his brother-in-law was taken into custody on Thursday night ? no longer hangs over the head of broadcaster Ted Failon.

For the case of obstruction of justice filed against Failon by Quezon City police, Assistant City Prosecutor Mary Jean Pamittan has issued an amended inquest disposition scheduling the preliminary investigation on April 21 at 2 p.m.

Pamittan also ordered the issuance of a subpoena summoning Failon (Mario Teodoro Etong in real life) to the Quezon City Prosecutor?s Office.

She likewise ordered police to release Failon?s sister-in-law Pamela Arteche and housemaid Carlota Morbos even without posting bail, saying there was ?no sufficient evidence to support probable cause against them.?

The disposition was approved by Assistant City Prosecutor Meynard Bautista Jr.

Charges of obstruction of justice were filed on Thursday night against the broadcaster, Arteche, Morbos and other Failon household staff members Wilfreda Bollicer, Pacifico Apacible and Glen Pulan for their failure to report to authorities the shooting of Failon?s wife, Trinidad ?Trina? Etong, on April 15, and the cleaning of the crime scene as well as the vehicle used to transport the then wounded victim to the New Era General Hospital.

According to records, the respondents? lawyer, Alfred Molo, told the inquest prosecutor that his clients were ?inclined to waive their rights because they prefer the conduct of a preliminary investigation.?

Molo similarly filed a request for preliminary investigation signed by all the respondents except Failon.

Etong, 44, died at the hospital?s intensive care unit on Thursday night. Both her husband and her daughter Kaye said she shot herself in the morning of April 15.

Her siblings, Pamela, Me-ann and Maximo Arteche, were taken into police custody shortly before her death, and were later released.

Senior Superintendent Elmo San Diego, director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) also said that Pamela Arteche, although still a suspect, would no longer undergo a paraffin test.

?It has been more than 72 hours, and the test is no longer feasible,? San Diego said.

Negative results

Etong?s body tested negative for powder burns, but police could not rule out suicide ?because the investigation is not yet over to answer unresolved issues,? San Diego said in a press conference in Camp Karingal yesterday morning.

A paraffin test was conducted on Etong by forensic experts of QCPD Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) shortly after her death, San Diego said.

?We will wait for the result of the bullet?s trajectory to determine if the shot that led to her death was self-inflicted or not,? he said,

Supterintendent Filemon Porciuncula Jr., chief of the QCPD Soco and Crime Lab said the negative result was not conclusive and did not necessarily mean Failon?s wife did not fire a gun.

?Mrs. Etong stayed in the hospital for 48 hours before we conducted the autopsy, and medical interventions were done, such as the cleaning of the wound. These could have reacted to the gunpowder residue,? Porciuncula said.

He said Failon would be asked to turn over for examination the clothes that his wife was wearing when the shooting occurred.

?We already have the bloodied clothes of Mr. Failon,? he said.

Paraffin testing outmoded

Failon himself tested negative in an earlier paraffin test.

But according to Dr. Raquel Fortun, a forensic expert, the international forensic community and the International Police Commission (Interpol) no longer rely on paraffin testing.

?It?s definitely outmoded. The fact is, as far back as the ?60s, it had already been decided that paraffin testing is not valid,? Fortun, of the University of the Philippine College of Medicine, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

She said that while paraffin testing was supposed to determine the presence of nitrates ?supposedly? found in gunpowder, ?these nitrates could be found anywhere.?

She pointed out that suspects could simply wash their hands and arms to clean these of any nitrates.

Happy but sad

Pulan, Apacible and Bollicer were released from detention at the QCPD headquarters in Camp Karingal at around 5 p.m. yesterday, after spending 19 hours in jail.

Paralegal officer Danny Go of the Puno and Puno law office posted bail on their behalf, and told reporters that the money came from their lawyers.

Go paid P12,000 each for the three respondents, plus an additional P500 processing fee for each, bringing the total amount paid to P37,500.

?We are thankful and happy that we are released, but at the same time sad,? Pulan told reporters in Filipino, adding that they still had to come to terms with the death of Failon?s wife.

Pulan said he had cleaned the blood stains in the vehicle that brought Etong to the hospital in order to protect her younger child Karishna.

?I did that on my own,? he said.

Pulan said he would continue to serve Failon?s household as a driver for as long as he was wanted. ?Ma?am Trina was like a sibling to me,? he said.

Failon himself showed up at Camp Karingal at around 2:15 p.m. yesterday.

He spoke with Pulan, Apacible (a nephew of his wife) and Bollicer for at least 10 minutes.

?I came here to ensure their release within the day so they can rest,? Failon said.

Findings

QCPD Soco chief Porciuncula said investigators had established that the shooting took place in one of the bathrooms located on the second floor of the Failon house.

He said the location of the impact of the bullet had been traced, which was significant to determine the bullet?s trajectory.

Porciuncula also said his men were able to conduct lumino-testing, and that traces of blood had been found near the stairs and inside the master bedroom.

He said that based on Failon?s account, blood dripped near the stairs when the broadcaster and members of his household carried his wife?s body to the car for transport to the hospital, and that the blood stains in the bedroom came from Failon, who had changed his clothes.

Porciuncula said Failon?s shirt, now with police, would be tested for gunpowder residue.

No talk

Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, one of the leading investigators, said Failon ordered his in-laws and his household staff not to talk to the police on the day of the shooting.

?A brother of the victim told me they were told by Ted not to talk to the police,? Mabanag told reporters in an interview at his office at the QCPD-CIDU yesterday morning.

He said Failon?s instruction was confirmed by a legal counsel of Failon?s: ?The lawyer told me that the members of the household and relatives should not talk to the police without a lawyer.?

Mabanag said this was what Failon?s brother-in-law, whom he did not name, told him on Thursday when he tried to talk to Pamela Arteche at the New Era General hospital.

The legal officer of QCPD, Senior Inspector Vimar Barcellano, expressed disappointment that Arteche chose to talk with ABS-CBN instead of the police on the events surrounding the shooting of her sister.

?Why can?t she talk to us instead of the media? We are the investigating body,? Barcellano said.