DOJ wraps up Orate slay probe

MANILA, Philippines - After just two hearings, the Department of Justice concluded yesterday its reinvestigation of the killing of the former boyfriend of ex-lawmaker Nanette Castelo-Daza, drug firm executive Noel Orate, in her house last Feb. 10.

Bulacan provincial board member Allan Robes, who said he shot Orate in self-defense, did not attend the hearing but sent his lawyer, Alfredo Villamor. Robes, a son-in-law of Daza, has been charged before a Quezon City court with homicide.

“If you will look at Supreme Court decisions on murder cases, there should be an eyewitness. You can’t just base it on the opinion of medico-legal or doctors and conclude that it’s a murder case,” Villamor told reporters after the hearing.

In the first hearing last March 22, Orate’s family submitted documents they believe would prove the victim was murdered. The medico-legal report by forensic expert Dr. Raquel Fortun and a spot report of the Scene of the Crime Operatives team stated that Orate tested negative for gunpowder burns and that two of the five gunshot wounds he suffered were at close range.