NBI, PNP share findings on Dacera’s death

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday visited the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters to share findings on the death of flight attendant Christine Dacera.

NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin yesterday said the visit at the PNP Crime Laboratory was for the “shared or joint examination” by the police and NBI.

The joint examination was done after Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters on Sunday that the PNP and NBI, an attached agency of the DOJ, would share evidence to conclude the case.

The NBI is conducting a second autopsy on Dacera’s body, even as the PNP in its medicolegal report said she died of natural causes when she was found unconscious in the bathroom of a Makati hotel on New Year’s Day after a night of partying.

Guevarra said the evidence gathered by the police would enable the NBI to conclude its findings, which will be submitted to the DOJ.

The Makati prosecutor’s office is hearing the rape with homicide complaint filed by the PNP against the men in connection with Dacera’s death.

The respondents, some of them openly gay, denied the accusations of Dacera’s family that the 23-year-old flight attendant was raped.

Dacera’s friends, who were among the respondents, said they were forced by the Makati police to admit they took drugs during the party.

The Dacera family wants the people who partied with Dacera on New Year’s Eve held accountable for her death.

The medico-legal officer who made the report, Lt. Col. Joseph Palmero, ruled out homicide as the cause of Dacera’s death, adding she died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm based on his findings.