BY ARGYLL GEDUCOS
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo told the camp of flight attendant Christine Dacera to stop seeking justice, saying there was no crime involved in her death.
Panelo made the statement after the family of Dacera, who died after a New Year’s party in a hotel in Makati early this year, contested the latest report of the Philippine National Police (PNP) indicating the flight attendant died of natural causes.
In the January 29, 2021 episodes of his show “Counterpoint”, he asked the Dacera family and their lawyer and spokesman Brick Reyes about the justice that they are seeking. He also advised Reyes to do his job properly.
“Ikaw (Reyes) naman, meron kang sinumpaan. Hindi lang tayo mga abogado mang-uusig. Ang pinaka tungkulin natin ay magbigyan tayo ng katarungan. Ano ba’ng katarungang hinahanap mo?” he said.
“Bakit niyo ipagpipilitan na may krimen kung wala naman? Ano’ng katarungan,” he added.
According to Panelo, unless they have a different agenda, the Dacera camp should now come to terms with the recent development, noting that the latest report of the PNP validated the original findings of the authorities.
“Ang ganda-ganda nga na namatay out of natural causes instead of may crime na ginawa eh. Bakit niyo pa rin ipagpipilitan may crime?,” he said.
“Nagkamali na nga from the very start — at hindi ko naman sinisisi dahil nga ‘yun naman ang sinabi sa kanya, initially. Pero ngayon na obvious na obvious na, eh ‘wag na nating ipagpilitan unless na meron pa kayong ibang agenda,” he added.
Panelo claimed that he personally knows the details about the case but refused to reveal them.
“May mga alam akong personal na bagay diyan kaya lang hindi ko na ho sasabihin. Ang pakiusap ko lang, ‘wag niyo na akong pilitin magsalita,” he said.
“Kung ‘yan talaga ang sinabi ng PNP forensic experts, eh malamang — doktor ito — igalang na po natin,” he added.
The Palace official advised the Dacera camp to back off since a lot of people already got hurt because of what happened.
“Kung nagkamali tayo sa akusasyon, umatras na tayo. Masyado nang maraming nasaktan dito on both sides,” Panelo said.
The report PNP Laboratory Office validated last week the initial finding that Dacera died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. It furthered that the flight attendant was afflicted with chronic hypertension.
The powdered substance found in the hotel room also turned out to be table salt and not crystal meth or any party drug. (Argyll Geducos)
