CEBU CITY – The boyfriend of the 19-year-old girl who died of party drug overdose finally appeared before the police.
Nel Spencer Tiu met with Senior Supt. Royina Garma, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), last Feb. 14 to air his side on the death of his girlfriend Ashley Abad.
“They talked for about 30 minutes. Tiu and his family decided to show up and not wait for a subpoena to be issued against him to disprove insinuations that he is no longer in the country. And he has no plans of leaving,” Tiu’s legal counsel Orlando Salatandre said when interviewed by a local radio station here.
Abad died after collapsing in an outdoor concert at the Cebu Business Park last Jan. 19. Examination on the body of Abad conducted by the PNP Crime Laboratory showed that she died of ecstasy overdose.
But the cause of death was not tackled during the meeting. “It was not discussed. That will be tacked in the proper forum. It’s up to the police if they are going to file or what charges they are going to file since they have gathered several evidence,” said Salatandre.
Salatandre said Tiu admitted that he and Abad were together in the concert along with their friends.
“But they were not together the whole time. There was a time when Ashley and a female friend left to buy water. According to Spencer, the whole thing happened so fast. Ashley turned pale and fainted, so they rushed her to the hospital,” said Salatandre.
The police had planned to use the subpoena power of Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde to summon Tiu after he turned down repeated invites for police questioning.
But Salatandre said Tiu didn’t go into hiding after the incident. “He attended the wake at least twice. They were a couple for almost four years, they were very close so it was not true that he fled,” the lawyer said.
Salatandre said it was a relief for Tiu and his family to be able to appear before the police. “It was a big relief for them because there had been a lot of speculations. These two families are close and we are hoping that they will be able to thresh out the issues in the future,” said Salatandre.
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, chief of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas (PRO 7), confirmed Tiu’s meeting with Garma. Sinas said Tiu denied involvement in the proliferation of party drugs.
The PRO 7 chief added that charges may be filed soon against certain individuals as the CCPO is already winding up its investigation into the incident. (Calvin Cordova)
