Family questions PNP report saying Christine Dacera died of natural causes

The family of flight attendant Christine Dacera is questioning the Philippine National Police  (PNP) medico legal report saying she died of natural causes.

Lawyer and Dacera family spokesperson Brick Reyes told Super Radyo dzBB that there were "irregularities" in the report submitted to the Makati Prosecutor's Office as evidence on Wednesday.

Signed by medico legal officer Police Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Palmero, the report states Dacera died a natural death — a ruptured aneurysm in her aorta, the largest artery in the human body, supposedly triggered by an increase in blood pressure.

Palmero ruled out homicide.

Reyes said that Palmero never personally examined Dacera's body and merely looked at parts of her organs. He said the family was not asked for permission.

"He examined parts of organs of the late Christine but definitely he never examined the body, he never conducted an autopsy," Reyes said in the radio interview.

The family spokesperson also questioned why Palmero, a doctor, ruled out homicide.

"Bakit, abogado ba siya, is he a fiscal, does he know the elements of the crime of homicide?" he asked.

Reyes added that Dacera's medical records, when she was accepted into the Philippine Airlines, showed she had a "normal" heart and was not hypertensive, contrary to Palmero's statement that she had "chronic hypertension."

"We believe that [the PNP report] should not be given any importance dahil he never conducted an autopsy on the body and the report is obviously an opinion," Reyes said.

He said they would rather wait for the results of the "thorough, five hour-long" second autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Dacera, 23, died on January 1 after a New Year's Eve celebration with her friends. Her family believes she was drugged and sexually abused. They are pursuing a complaint for rape with homicide against her companions the night before she died.

Dacera's friends, on the other hand, have insisted they did not harm her, instead claiming that they took care of her when she was heavily drunk and until her final moments.

The Makati Prosecutor's Office is investigating the criminal complaint filed against Dacera's friends. The PNP submitted Palmero's report in connection with this investigation.

The NBI's work is a separate probe ordered by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who said that the initial police investigation was "not thorough enough."—AOL, GMA News