NBI charges 11 over Christine Dacera’s death

MANILA, Philippines — (Updated 5:26 p.m.) The National Bureau of Investigation filed Friday multiple criminal charges against 11 people who were involved in the death of flight attendant Christine Dacera and the initial investigation of her case.

The charges: Mark Anthony Rosales and Romel Galido, two of Dacera’s companions on the night before she died, were slapped with violations of Section 3(k) of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act for supposedly delivering and giving away party drugs.

Rosales also faces another drug charge for allegedly introducing party drugs to his companions.

All of Dacera’s companions and their lawyer, Neptali Maroto, were charged with obstruction of justice for supposedly giving false or fabricated information to mislead or prevent the law enforcement agencies from apprehending the offenders.

Meanwhile, Galido, John Pascual Dela Serna and Darwin Joseph Macalla, were charged with perjury for allegedly providing false testimonies.

Dela Serna, Jezreel Rapinan, Alain Chen and Louie Delima were charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide for supposedly recklessly neglecting the condition of Dacera which led to her death.

PMaj. Michael Nick Sarmiento faces falsification of an official document by a public officer for supposedly declaring untruthful findings in his autopsy report.

Party drugs: The NBI said that police found flouromethamphetamine and methamphetamine on two pieces of cotton found in the room Dacera and her companions were staying at.

Methamphetamine was also found in the area where Dacera vomited, the NBI said.

The NBI also said that witnesses who were staying at another room in the same hotel that Dacera was staying at testified that the flight attendant came to their room because her companions were high after taking party drugs.

“We were able to corroborate such presence of illegal drugs through the statement of our witnesses,” NBI Death Investigation Division agent Zulikha Marie Conales-Degamo told a news briefing.

Conales-Degamo said occupants of Room 2207 testified that some occupants of Room 2209, where Dacera and her companions were staying at, offered and used drugs.

Rosales, Dela Serna, De Guzman and Rapinan have shared on social media that they have tested negative for drugs.

Reckless imprudence: Conales-Degamo, explaining the reckless imprudence charges against four of Dacera's companions, said that they failed to help the flight attendant when she was already vomiting, complaining of a headache and feeling numbness in her arm.

"If I saw my friend vomiting, or has an extremely bad headache, I would probably give her medicine or I will seek immediate assistance," Conales-Degamo said partly in Filipino.

She added, "You did not intend to kill anybody, but your omission to do the proper prudence and diligence required of you in that time and place, you failed to give that, that diligence and that prudence, you are liable under the law."

NBI findings: The NBI added that there were “glaring inconsistencies” between their autopsy findings and PNP’s autopsy findings, with the NBI being able to obtain 130 milliliters of urine from Dacera’s bladder and finding no abrasion on her labia majora.

Police initially declared that Dacera’s bladder was empty and that they found abrasions on her labia majora.

Natural death: The NBI, however, arrived at the same conclusion as the PNP on the cause of death of Dacera. 

“The cause of her death was microscopic evidence of peri-aortic hemorrhages and aortic wall disruption, suspicious for a bleeding dissecting aneurysm,” the NBI said.

Toxicology examination on the body of Dacera also showed the presence of diltiazem, a prescription drug for the management of hypertension.

The NBI, however, linked Dacera’s aneurysm to her supposed use of illegal drugs on the night before she died. — Xave Gregorio with a report from Kristine Joy Patag

Related Stories

NBI on last steps of probe into Dacera's death, Guevarra says

NBI, PNP share findings on Dacera’s death