Ted Failon latest development

The award winning Broadcast journalist Ted Failon has insisted that the charges against him lodged by the Quezon City police are baseless. "The empty conjectures that formed the basis for the complaint lead me to believe that this investigation has been instituted solely to harass me," said Failon, Mario Teodoro Etong in real life, in his counter affidavit filed before the Quezon City Prosecutors' Office. He maintained that he could not have obstructed or prevented any witness to report a crime since "there has been no determination that a crime has been committed. Failon and his house helpers Wilfreda Bollicer, Pacifico Apacible, Carlota Morbos, driver Glen Pulan, and Pamela Arteche, sister of his late wife Trinidad Etong are now facing obstruction of justice raps. Failon also belied police's claims that he instructed members of his household to clean the bathroom where he found his bloodied wife before investigators could inspect the area. "It was only after they has done such cleaning that I later became aware of what they had done," he said. Failon said that upon the advice of his lawyers, he did not turn over to police investigators his wife's cellular phone because it "contains privileged and confidential communications between spouses." "When I refused, they (police) no longer bothered to examine the contents of the phone despite the fact that I allowed them to do so in the presence of my lawyers," Failon said. Failon's lawyers said police investigators should first secure a judicial warrant before they could get on Etong's phone. The case against Failon and members of his household stemmed from the shooting of Etong inside their house in Tierra Pura Subdivision, Quezon City last April 15. Etong sustained a gunshot wound to the head. She died at the New Era General Hospital the next day. My condolences to the bereaved family.