Former lawmaker's son-in-law posts bail

MANILA, Philippines - Bulacan provincial board member Allan Robes has posted bail on homicide charges for the death of Noel Orate, the estranged boyfriend of Robes’ mother-in-law, former lawmaker Nanette Castelo-Daza, police said yesterday.

Robes was released from his detention cell in Camp Karingal at around 5 p.m. Monday after he posted P40,000 for his temporary release, Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU), said.

Robes is the husband of Quezon City Councilor Jessica Daza, daughter of the former lawmaker.

The Daza family claimed Robes acted in self-defense when he shot Orate. They claimed Orate went to Daza’s house in Barangay Teacher’s Village East on Friday night, wanting to reconcile with his former girlfriend, who had ended their relationship.

Orate reportedly threatened to kill Jessica, Robes, and Daza before committing suicide. This supposedly prompted Robes to shoot him.

Orate’s children, however, claimed Daza summoned their father that night as she supposedly was the one who wanted to revive the relationship. They claimed their father was the one who broke up with the former lawmaker.

Orate’s children slammed the claim that it was an act of self-defense, noting their father was shot five times in the chest.

Their lawyer said they would ask for a reinvestigation of the case by the fiscal because they want murder charges to be filed.

‘Probe was fair’

Meanwhile, Marcelo maintained the police investigation of the incident was fair. He was reacting to a move by the victim’s son, Noel Jr., to seek a reinvestigation by the National Bureau of Investigation.

QCPD-CIDU investigators were the ones who first looked into the incident.

In an interview yesterday, Marcelo said they exercised fairness and prudence as well as followed correct procedure in investigating Orate’s killing.

Noel Jr.’s lawyer, Eduardo Bringas, said they were seeking NBI intervention “to avoid all doubt and clout” on the matter, noting that the Dazas are a political family in Quezon City.

Ex-couple at party hours before killing

Yesterday, friends of Orate and the former lawmaker, who form part of a club of tennis players, surfaced and recounted what transpired a few hours before Orate was killed.

Jun Bilbao said Orate appeared sad Friday night as they gathered for a birthday of a friend at the Amoranto tennis court. Daza was also there that night but left without talking to Orate, said Rona de Vega, also from the group.

According to Bilbao, Orate was tinkering with his phone and eventually remarked that it had no use as it could not fix his problem. Orate then threw his phone.

“Before he left, he said, ‘I love Nanettte so much, I can’t bear not having her in my life,’” Bilbao told reporters.

According to Bilbao, he had no idea if Orate was capable of the Dazas’ allegations that he held them hostage that night.

“We know Noel, we know Nanette. We don’t know that Allan (Robes). We are not protecting him because we don’t know him,” he said.

Bilbao said someone he declined to name had approached him to convince them “to tell what happened” that night.

Along with other members of the tennis club, Bilbao and De Vega said Orate told them that it was he who ended the relationship and not Daza.

“The sadness that he showed us really surprised me because it wasn’t like him. It was the first time we saw him like that,” Bilbao said.

He said Orate had broken off things with Daza but realized that he made a mistake and wanted the two of them to get back together. Bilbao said Orate was sleepless during the four days before he died, even wishing he would collapse so his suffering would end.

De Vega said Orate told her to tell Daza he loves her and misses her.

“I told him, ‘Why course it through me? Why not tell her yourself?’” she said.

Orate left the gathering at around 10:30 p.m. without saying where he was going, Bilbao said.

Asked if they had relayed what they knew to Orate’s children, Bilbao said they went on the first night of the wake and spoke to a daughter of the victim.