QCPD: No 100K or suicide note inside Benaldo's office

The plot thickens.

The police officer leading the investigation of the shooting incident involving Cagayan de Oro Representative Jose Benjamin "Benjo" Benaldo in the House of Representatives said Saturday that investigators from the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) have not found any suicide note or money inside the congressman's office, contrary to reports from other media networks claiming that Benaldo left P100,000 and a suicide note on his desk minutes before the incident occurred.

 

In a report aired on Balitanghali, Senior Superintendent, Procopio Lipana, the deputy director for operations of QCPD said the police have not recovered any amount of money or a suicide note when they searched the lawmaker's office for evidence on Thursday evening.

 

Lipana said he and his men entered Benaldo's office at around 8 p.m., or around an hour after Benaldo was found by his staff inside his office bleeding from a single gunshot wound to his chest.

 

"I supervised the investigation. I was present at ang masasabi lang natin ay definitely, wala kaming nakitang suicide note. Definitely wala kaming nakitang P100,000 nang kami ay pumasok sa scene of the incident," he said.

 

Lipana said the Benaldo's chief of staff and the House sergeant at arms were present when the police searched the lawmaker's office for evidence.

 

The police official, however, admitted that the scene of the incident might was no longer intact when the investigators arrived.

 

Proof of this, he said, was the recovery of the lawmaker's 9-mm pistol on another table inside his office. The table, which is located near the door, is far from the blood-stained desk the congressman occupied when the shooting occurred.

 

The QCPD recovered a 9-mm handgun inside Benaldo's office and bullet fragments inside Benaldo's personal room. Records of the Philippine National Police's Firearms and Explosives Office (PNP-FEO) show that the permit to carry for Benaldo's handgun already expired on March 22, 2012. 

 

Benaldo is currently recovering inside the Coronary Care Unit of St. Luke's Hospital in Quezon City. — Xianne Arcangel/VC, GMA News