That Failon Incident

[Oops! I deleted the following post by mistake when all I wanted to delete was a picture. Originally posted on April 20 or thereabouts. My bad...]


In a fatal shooting incident celebrity radio talk show host Ted Failon’s wife dies, raising questions as to whether it was suicide or parricide. Even before she expired, however, the tragedy nearly turned into farce with the scene-stealing actions of the Quezon City Police and of Persida Rueda Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office.

On the shooting’s being reported to the police they proceeded to the Failon residence in the upscale Tierra Pura Subdivision in Quezon City, where they discovered that the household help had washed the blood off the bathroom floor. Inspite (or maybe because) of the presence of television cameras the police arrested the household helpers and forcibly hauled them into waiting police cars on the ground that they had tampered with the scene of a crime. Which raises the question: had a crime really been committed? At this point that has not yet been established. I squirmed watching the scene on television as the household helpers’ lawyer pleaded with police to be allowed to speak with her clients. She also unsuccessfully invoked her clients’ right to be informed of the charges against them.

Act two of the police drama had them arresting the victim’s siblings while they kept vigil over her in the ICU. Again, news video footage shows the police collaring and dragging the victim’s brother to a waiting police van. What looks like two plainclothes policemen then jump into the speeding vehicle and restrain him further, never mind that he is in handcuffs. According to news reports the siblings refused to answer questions propounded to them by visiting policemen. The policemen also wanted to take paraffin tests off the victim’s hands. No doubt these are standard procedures, so why all the fuss by the police? They were obviously rebuffed by the siblings but what ordinary citizen wouldn’t act in the same manner given the callousness that the police had been exhibiting in carrying out the case? If accounts are to be believed, this includes making fun of and posing for photographs with Failon when he appeared at police headquarters.

Enter Persida Rueda Acosta of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), which defends indigents in criminal cases. She insinuates herself as Ted Failon’s lawyer on the ground that the PAO had agreed with the National Press Club to defend its members whenever the need arises. No one disputes that Failon is entitled to counsel, but indigent he is not and can certainly afford his own lawyer. I admire Acosta for her staunch defense of the rights of poor accused, even if these are in high-profile criminal cases: no other person has raised the consciousness of the public about the importance of the PAO to the Philippine justice system. Inexplicably, Ms. Acosta forgets that the household help languishing in jail on obstruction of justice charges are too poor to obtain legal assistance on their own credit and, hence, are excellent candidates for her office’s services. But then TV news doesn’t give too much coverage to household help. Her stout defense of Failon prompts Acosta’s boss, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, to call her crazy.

All the while, the public’s appetite for news can’t get satiated enough and Failon is in the unfamiliar position of having to plead for his privacy. To his advantage, the information flow is controlled by his employer, ABS-CBN, which has been pushing the suicide theory non too subtly. It is also getting exclusive public interviews with family members, leaving the other news networks in the dark.

From tragedy, to police drama, to low comedy - this is how The Failon Incident is developing. And like any primetime TV drama, there are winners and losers. The losers: Ted Failon, who has suffered a grievous loss and whose reported senatorial ambitions are scotched until the truth about this gripping whodunit finally comes to light. Then there is the Philippine National Police that – try as its superiors might to polish up its image with smart slogans and conspicuous billboards – is stymied by the antics of its Keystone SPOs. The winners: ABS-CBN in the battle for the network ratings and - tadah! - Attorney Acosta who, given her high public profile of late and having been bestowed by no less than Secretary Gonzales the tagline “that crazy woman”, might be able to convert this into a successful Senate candidacy. After all, crazier people of lesser achievements have accomplished that feat.