Pinoy construction worker found dead at Saipan park

GARAPAN, Saipan -- A Filipino construction worker was found dead at a park by the beach in Saipan in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Sunday night. Arnel Orbita, 40, was pronounced dead at a CNMI government hospital at 9:53 p.m. on Sunday. He was working as a steel man at RNV Construction. His friends and co-workers suspect foul play despite police’s initial findings of sudden cardiac arrest as cause of death.   Ruel Villacrusis, owner of RNV Construction, said Orbita started working for his company only in November. Orbita’s previous job was water delivery man at Cool Water, he said.   “He’s a hardworking and happy person,” Villacrusis told GMA News Online on Tuesday.   The police said a woman was with Orbita at the American Memorial Park in Garapan.    According to the police, the woman and Orbita played billiards at an open-air bar where they also consumed alcohol.   They then reportedly walked across the park by the beach.  After walking, the witness told police she and Orbita decided to sit on a parking stall to rest.   As they were sitting, the witness told police, Orbita fell to his back and appeared to be having a seizure.   The police said the symptoms described were consistent with suffering a cardiac arrest.   Orbita’s friends and co-workers, however, could not believe that Orbita died of cardiac arrest because he was believed to be a healthy man.   One of his co-workers urged police to investigate the case thoroughly as Orbita apparently received a death threat over a woman.   Villacrusis, his employer, said he was willing to repatriate Orbita’s remains to the Philippines immediately.   “I would encourage the family in the Philippines to have an autopsy done in the Philippines because I don’t think they would do that here,” Villacrusis said.    Orbita’s remains are at a hospital morgue in Saipan. - VVP, GMA News