Former congresswoman’s lover killed in shooting just as police arrive

Former Congresswoman Nanette Castelo-Daza. congress.gov.ph photo

MANILA, Philippines – It was late Friday evening when police received a call from ex-congresswoman Nanette Castelo-Daza about a “commotion” at her home in Barangay (village) Teachers’ Village East, Quezon City.

When two patrolmen arrived a little past 11 p.m., they were jolted by a series of gunshots coming from the house on 51 Maningning Street where the former legislator lived with her family.

A man then strode out of the bungalow, dropped his .38-caliber pistol, raised his hands and surrendered to the police.

The man, police said, turned out to be Allan Robes, 38, a Bulacan provincial board member and husband of Daza’s daughter, Jessica.

The policemen then glimpsed the bloodied body of a man sprawled on the floor of the house’s receiving area. It was that of Noel Orate, 55, who was described by his son as the former legislator’s lover.

Still not clear to investigators on Saturday was how or why Orate, described as a manager at United Laboratories, ended up dead in his lover’s home in what initially seemed to be a fight with the husband of the former legislator’s daughter.

Chief Inspector Rodelio Marcelo of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said they had yet to talk to any eyewitness as the Daza household has kept mum.

“But it seems to be a duel because we recovered another gun near the victim’s body,” he told reporters.

The victim died on the spot from at least five gunshot wounds, he said.

Orate’s Smith and Wesson 9-millimeter pistol still contained 14 bullets in its magazine while Robes’s gun, a Keltec pistol, had five spent shells and two live bullets in it.

“It is still unclear if the victim was able to fire a shot but his gun was still fully loaded,” Marcelo said, adding that Orate was also to be subjected to a paraffin test.

Robes and his wife, Jessica, lived in his mother-in-law’s house. He was taken into police custody and underwent paraffin tests Saturday morning.

Both Marcelo and case investigator Senior Police Officer 1 Joselito Gagaza said they had yet to talk to the former legislator, her daughter, who is a Quezon City councilor, or anybody else from the Daza household.

Marcelo said the elder Daza was reportedly taken to an undisclosed hospital for an injured foot on Friday night shortly after the shooting.

Police said it was still unclear as to what the victim, a resident of Matiyaga Street in Barangay Central, was doing at his girlfriend’s house late at night.

“No one would speak to us, including Robes, who cited his constitutional right to remain silent. We were referred to their family lawyers instead,” Gagaza said.

The investigator said he wished to have the entire Daza household – mother and daughter, Bobby Castelo, a brother of the older Daza and some househelp – subjected to paraffin tests as well.

The only statement the authorities got so far was from the victim’s son, also named Noel, who was away working at the IBM facility at the UP AyalaLand Technohub at the time of the shooting.

According to the younger Orate’s sworn statement, his father and the ex-Quezon City second district congresswoman had been in a relationship since he was a teenager.

The 28-year-old Noel was at work Friday evening when he received a call from the older Daza herself, telling him that “his father was gone.”

The victim’s son immediately went to the Daza home.

Gagaza said the victim was found sprawled wearing a sleeveless shirt, cycling shorts and slippers.

According to Senior Inspector Mario Manahan, head of the QCPD’s Tactical Operations Center, he received a call from Superintendent Ronnie Montejo about the incident.

It was apparently Montejo whom Daza contacted for help, even though Daza’s home is under the jurisdiction of the Anonas police station while Montejo heads the Batasan police station.

Montejo then passed the distress call to the QCPD-TOC, which dispatched two policemen from the Anonas police station.

As of Saturday afternoon, Robes had not yet been subjected to inquest proceedings although Marcelo said they were readying murder charges against the Bulacan official.