Cops see suicide in Malabon barangay chair’s death

A barangay chair in Malabon City was found dead in his bedroom on Wednesday morning in what the police believed to be a suicide.

Barangay Baritan chair Alex Roque Jr., 40, died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head, according to the case investigator PO2 Richard Calaycay.

Around 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday, Roque was at his house on Borja Street when he asked utility worker Alvin Orante to get his pistol from his office.

When he returned with the gun, Orante could not find Roque so he just left it in the official’s bedroom. Nanette Lazaro, Roque’s aide, said the village chief by then had gone to Philippine General Hospital in
Manila to visit a relative.

Roque returned home sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. on Wednesday. It was during this time that he was believed to have shot himself, Calaycay said.

Orante found Roque dead in the bedroom — with the pistol in his left hand — when he returned to the house around 8:30 a.m. to feed the dog, according to the investigator.

The police found bottles of liquor in the bedroom and a purported “suicide note”. Barangay secretary Jolie de Guzman later confirmed the handwriting on the note to be that of the chairman.

Bong Padua, Malabon public information officer, said the city “mourned for the death of Roque, who brought honor to the city with his several achievements as a village chief” who had served multiple terms.

Before being elected chair of Barangay Baritan in 2010, Roque was a staff member of the city’s public information office.