Dacera kin wants more people charged

MANILA, Philippines — More persons who partied with the late flight attendant Christine Dacera could be charged in her death, a lawyer representing her family said on Friday.

The occupants of another room of the City Garden Grand Hotel could be charged with rape with homicide in connection with Dacera’s death, lawyer and family spokesman Roger “Brick” Reyes said.

Previously, the hotel management disclosed in its letter to the Department of Tourism (DOT) that three rooms – 2209, 2207 and 2009 – were booked under corporate accounts.

Some of the 11 men accused in Dacera’s death claimed they booked Rooms 2209 and 2207 through a friend who was a manager of the hotel.

The Makati police have filed charges against 11 men who partied with Dacera on New Year’s Eve at Rooms 2209 and 2207 of the same hotel.

“We will have to find out the identities of those… so we can include them in the charges,” he said in a press briefing at Greenhills, San Juan.

For them to identify the occupants, the Dacera family is demanding that “unedited, unspliced” footages from the hotel’s closed-circuit television system be given to them.

“We asked for unedited, unspliced CCTV of the hotel three days before and three days after (Dacera’s death) so we find out who went in and out of the rooms,” he said.

Reyes previously lamented the alleged lack of transparency by the hotel and the Makati police in providing footages from within the hotel, where Dacera was found unconscious in Room 2209’s bathtub.

Based on CCTV clips initially released to the public, Dacera kept going in and out of Rooms 2209 and 2207.

Beforehand, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) declared that 12 men said to be billeted at Room 2207 came to the agency to maintain they were not involved in her death.

The DOT suspended the accreditation of the hotel for accepting guests despite serving as a quarantine facility.

Joint probe not feasible

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra yesterday said a joint investigation between the Philippine National Police and the NBI may no longer be feasible, since the PNP has submitted its official report while the NBI is in the final phase of its investigation.

His statement came after Mike Santiago, another lawyer representing the Dacera family, appealed to the PNP and the NBI to come up with a joint investigation to “clear the air” and come up with a final resolution on the cause of Dacera’s death.

Guevarra initially ordered the NBI to assist the PNP in the investigation of Dacera’s case but later on told the agency to initiate its own probe “in the interest of time and efficiency.”

Aguirre: PNP now butt of jokes

National Police Commission (Napolcom) vice chairman Vitaliano Aguirre II yesterday scored the police for its handling of the investigation of Dacera’s death.

“The Dacera case, apparently the SOCO (Scene of the Crime Office) was disorganized. As a matter of fact, this is now the butt of jokes,” he said in an interview.

The Makati police initially said what happened to Dacera could be a rape with homicide case despite the lack of concrete evidence.

PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas even issued a 72-hour ultimatum for the suspects to surface or face a manhunt.

However, the Makati prosecutor’s office ordered the release of three persons initially identified as suspects for lack of evidence and said the case was for further investigation. An autopsy report from the PNP Crime Laboratory concluded Dacera died of natural causes, specifically a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

Aguirre, a trial lawyer before he was appointed by President Duterte first as justice secretary and now Napolcom vice chair, said a solution to the problem is for the country to have a SOCO that is independent from the PNP.

He said the Office of the Medical Examiner in the United States is not under the supervision of the police force. Having an independent body would protect SOCO investigators from threats and pressure. – Robertzon Ramirez, Emmanuel Tupas