Case filed vs ex-congresswoman’s son-in-law

“He did what he had to do to protect me, my child and my mother.”

In a press conference Sunday, Quezon City Councilor Jessica Castelo said that her husband, Bulacan provincial board member Alan Robes, had no choice but to shoot her mother’s longtime lover, 55-year-old Noel Orate Sr., to protect them.

Orate was shot dead by Robes inside the house of Castelo’s mother, former Quezon City Representative Nanette Castelo-Daza, at 51 Maningning St. in Teachers Village-East on Friday evening.

Castelo, who was accompanied by lawyer Freddie Villamor, said that she did not know her husband had a gun until he fired at Orate.

Hostage-taking

She added that before he was shot, Orate had held her, Daza and Robes at gunpoint.

“He told me that he would kill me, my husband, my mother and then he would kill himself. He said he wanted to be in the news headlines the following day,” Castelo said.

Villamor, meanwhile, read a statement from Daza who was taken to Capitol Medical Center after she sprained her ankle during what she described as the “hostage-taking” incident on Friday.

Daza said that although she did not want to besmirch the reputation of her lover of 10 years, she had no choice but to speak out to deny some of the reports that were coming out.

“The truth of the matter is that this was a hostage-taking situation wherein the deceased had to be neutralized by Robes in order to save the lives of his seven-month pregnant wife, his unborn child and mother–in-law,” the former congresswoman added in her statement.

“In the evening of February 10, Orate uninvited, drunk and carrying a gun, barged into the residence and threatened and attempted to take the lives of the said individuals with his gun,” Daza said.

According to her, Orate was trying to win her back after they broke up on January 18 although she had ignored his efforts.

The victim’s son, however, said that this was far from the case.

“Based on my discussion with my father days before the incident, he had ended his relationship with Daza. My dad would have never lied to me,” Noel Orate Jr. told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

“It was Daza who asked my father to go to her house [on Friday night], he would not have initiated efforts to save the relationship,” he added.

According to him, Daza wanted to see the victim after the latter broke up with the congresswoman on January 19.

Daza summoned victim

“All I know is that my father would not have gone to her house if [Daza] had not summoned him,” he said.

“He would not be able to enter the house anyway if he had gone there on his own initiative because they have a security guard,” he added.

Robes, who remains detained at Camp Karingal, underwent inquest proceedings before Assistant City Prosecutor Soliman Usman on Saturday evening.

He has been charged with homicide.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Quezon City Police District had earlier charged him with murder, a nonbailable offense.

Orate said they would block the petition for bail filed by Robes’ lawyer.

During Sunday’s press conference, lawyer Villamor accused the police of “bungling the investigation.”

“They are focused on the dead body, they are not interested in how it happened. They have not even questioned the other people involved in the incident or witnesses inside the house like the house help,” he said.