Daza's slain ex-boyfriend laid to rest

MANILA, Philippines – Former Quezon City congresswoman Nanette Castelo-Daza’s ex-boyfriend was buried at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City yesterday, with the family of the victim still crying for justice.

Wearing black and white shirts with the words Justice For Noel printed on them, Noel Orate’s family, led by his son Noel Jr., and their friends passed by the former lawmaker’s residence on Maningning street in Teacher’s Village and placed flowers in front of the house.

At the funeral, Noel Jr. made a promise in front of his father’s coffin to do everything until his father gets justice.

Orate was killed by Bulacan provincial board member Allan Robes in the Daza home in Quezon City last Feb. 10. Robes is the husband of Daza’s daughter, Councilor Jessica Daza.

The Orate family’s lawyer, Eduardo Bringas, said they are still confident that the homicide case against Robes will be upgraded to murder.

“We will make a request to the crime laboratory at Camp Crame for Dr. Fortun to check out the t-shirt and recovered slugs,” he told The STAR, referring to forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun, who also conducted a re-autopsy of the victim’s body.

“I can’t divulge (the findings) right now. Let us just say that with the autopsy, we are confident that the crime is murder,” he said.

Bringas said Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 218 Judge Luis Zenon Maceren has yet to resolve their motion for reinvestigation and issuance of a hold departure order against Robes, who is out on bail.

Bringas and the group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption believe that the police conducted an incomplete investigation of the killing.

They said the probe carried out by the Quezon City Police District did not even include Daza herself, who was present and was even hurt during the killing.

Arrest warrants

for Orate

Meanwhile, Orate’s family said they were surprised by reports that their father, a district manager of a drug firm, was the subject of warrants of arrest.

Siblings Dennis and Olga Belisario told ABS-CBN that one of the arrest warrants is for homicide after Orate allegedly killed their father, Agapito Belisario, nearly 19 years ago.

Dennis said Orate’s killing represented closure for them. “I was 15 when (my father) was shot in front of me,” he said.

Noel Jr. said the Dazas may be involved in the surfacing of the Belisarios, claiming “they can always use their propaganda machine. This is just a diversion.”

Robes’ lawyer, Wilfredo Villamor, denied Noel Jr.’s allegation, saying the Belisario case means that their claim that Orate’s tendency to violence “is not unlikely.”