FORMER PHILIPPINES MILITARY CHIEF COMMITS SUCIDE

MANILA, Philippines - A former chief of staff who was depressed for being investigated for alleged involvement in rampant corruption at the Armed Forces shot himself to death after praying at the tomb of his mother in a cemetery in suburban Marikina on Tuesday morning. He was the country’s first military officer to have committed suicide, sources said.
Angelo Reyes, 65, shot himself after he asked his two sons, his driver, and bodyguard to leave him while he prayed before his mother’s tomb at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City.

• Reyes was brought to nearby Quirino Memorial Medical Centre (QMMC), where he was declared dead on arrival at 8:22 in the morning, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said in a radio interview.
• A one-centimetre wound was on the left side of his chest, an exit wound at the back was also one centimetre in diameter, said Dr. Fernando Lopez, QMMC spokesman.
• His classmates at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), class 1966, said that Reyes committed suicide to save the military from further disgrace.
• Last week, in a senatorial inquiry, Ex-lieutenant colonel George Rabusa, former budget officer of the Armed Forces, said that Reyes received P 50 million (Dh 4.16 million) when he retired in 2001; that he also received un-audited monthly allowances from 2000 to 2001.
• Reyes was expected to testify at Congress on Tuesday, but the senate temporarily ended its investigation.

In 2001, Reyes led the military-backed street protests that were launched by those who were angry at the abrupt ending of the impeachment trial of former president Joseph Estrada at the senate in late 2000.
Reyes was environment, energy and interior secretary, and anti-smuggling presidential adviser during the term of former president Gloria Arroyo who served from 2001 to 2010.

Source: Agency