Model killed in 12-story fall

MANILA, Philippines – An 18-year-old commercial model died after falling from the 18th floor of a condominium building in Quezon City before dawn yesterday, and his relatives suspect foul play in the incident.

Aside from fatal body injuries he sustained from the fall, Benjie Peralta – who once appeared in a “station ID” for The Filipino Channel – had fractured bones and lacerations, said case investigator Police Officer 2 Rodel Tumangday.

Peralta fell at past 2 a.m. from the 18th floor of Victoria Tower building at the corner of Panay and Timog Avenues in Barangay West Triangle. Tumangday said Peralta died on the spot after he landed on the concrete floor on the sixth level of the building.

Police said a guard at the building noticed glass shards falling. When he asked other guards to check, they found the teenager’s body on the sixth floor.

They said a glass wall lining an 18th floor unit had been smashed, and believe Peralta may have fallen through it.

It is not clear who owns the still unoccupied condominium unit. A subcontractor reportedly showed Peralta and his companions into the unit, which the police found locked as of yesterday afternoon.

Peralta’s former girlfriend, Vanessa Onemoto, 20, arrived at the Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit yesterday afternoon after hearing about his death.

Onemoto – who was one of the “26K models” of the game show “Deal Or No Deal” – said she and Peralta had lived together for less than a year before breaking up recently. She said the last communication they had was two days before his death.

Onemoto said they broke up because of “lies” she discovered about Peralta. She also said Peralta threatened to kill himself whenever they had a fight, but said she did not think he was actually suicidal.

Saying she did not have anything to do with Peralta’s death, Onemoto noted that she came to the police to cooperate in the investigation.

Peralta’s relatives believe somebody may have killed him, but could not think of anyone who threatened the model.

“How could he (Peralta) have fallen off on his own and destroyed a glass wall (one inch) thick?” his uncle, Gary Garcia, said.

Tumangday also said footage caught by the building’s closed-circuit television camera showed a man running away from the condominium unit. The man, however, could not be identified since the footage’s resolution was not clear.

Garcia also noted that a security logbook indicated that Peralta entered the building with four persons identified only as Lucky Mercado, Jeff, R.A. Carlos, and Angelica.

Another uncle of Peralta, Roderick Garcia, said his nephew had a bloodied chest allegedly inflicted by his former girlfriend during a fight.