MANILA, Philippines?ABS-CBN news anchor Ted Failon Wednesday gave a ?more comprehensive? statement on his wife Trinidad?s death at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila.
Failon?s lawyer Alfred Molo told reporters that the broadcaster and his eldest daughter Kaye Etong were subjected to two kinds of questioning: one from NBI investigators, and another from psychologists and psychiatrists conducting a psychological autopsy.
?Yung unang statement na binigay ni Ted sa pulis, based lang sa tanong ng pulis. Eto naman, based sa evaluation ng NBI, may ibang tanong pa na dapat ilabas, (The first statement that Ted gave the police was based only on the questions of the police. This one, based on the evaluation of the NBI, there are questions that must be asked),? Molo said.
NBI director Nestor Mantaring said a crime had not been established in their probe on the fatal shooting of Failon?s wife.
?We have not established yet that there is a crime. If it is suicide, then there is no crime,? said Mantaring, adding that the NBI still needed the help of the Philippine National Police.
Regional director lawyer Ric Diaz, chief of the NBI Anti-Terrorism Division and concurrent bureau spokesman, said the investigation leaned toward suicide but clarified that the probe was still ongoing.
?Our investigation is leaning to suicide but our probe is not yet over so we cannot categorically say it is suicide,? said Diaz in an interview.
Failon?s camp also gave Wednesday handwriting samples of Trina Etong for comparison with the alleged suicide note found inside the couple?s house in Tierra Pura subdivision in Quezon City.
They also handed investigators an affidavit from Trina?s sister Pamela, who said she saw her write the note, and another from Trina?s friend Joy Tan. Tan also underwent questioning Wednesday from the psychologists at NBI.
Molo criticized what he saw as a ?premature? release of the results in an ongoing investigation.
?They said we?ve been conditioning the minds of the public with results, but the police themselves (are the ones releasing the results),? he said.