• Office of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
• Tel No. 9315497/4155455
• 0916-6406737/0918-9120137
• 09 February 2011

           The death by suicide of former AFP Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes sends the message to legislators to desist from engaging in trial by publicity and to defer to prosecutorial and judicial officials the jurisdiction over purported crimes.

           Reyes possibly could not bear his own and his family’s embarrassment due to repeated allegations and innuendoes of wrongdoings so much so that he preferred death to dishonor.

           It is of no moment that the person who perished is innocent or guilty because one’s death diminishes the entire society.

           We must respect the decision of Reyes to take his own life to foreclose the continuing assaults on his integrity without the benefit of a judicial process wherein innocence is presumed before final conviction.