Cascolan widow says she will answer questions on ex-PNP chief's death

Amidst questions surrounding the death of former Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Camilo Cascolan, his widow has asked to be given time to mourn her husband’s passing before giving her side on the issue.
 

According to Mariz Umali's report in "24 Oras," the lawyer of Cascolan’s widow said they will release a statement in the coming days.
 

This after Cascolan's siblings expressed doubts as to why the retired police general’s remains were cremated shortly after he died last Friday, November 24 despite their request for an autopsy.
 

The necrological service on Tuesday for Cascolan  was a private affair and not open to the media.

“March meron tayong formal letter to the NBI to investigate the possible poisoning so the reason for the request is in the letter,” said Stephen Cascolan, a lawyer representing Cascolan siblings. 

The camp of Cascolan’s siblings have not disclosed the details of the basis of their doubts, claiming it is an important part of the investigation.
 

In their petition for guardianship they filed after Cascolan after suffered a stroke, the subpoena included his medical records and his attending doctors.

The former PNP Chief’s sibling said they also have his hair samples as specimens and are now waiting for the results of the investigation which may take up to three weeks.
 

Cascolan's brothers are also questioning why the PNP medico-legal signed his death certificate instead of his attending physician.

For its part, the PNP said it did not see anything wrong since Cascolan's doctor was said to be out of town at the time, so Cascolan’s family requested the PNP to have someone from its medico-legal sign the death certificate.
 

The attending physician and medico-legal were also in communication and the attending physician also came to confirm the cause of death.
 

“‘Yung mismong attending physician knows the background at ‘yung estado ng ating dating Chief PNP at naglabas na po ng death certificate, nandoon na ‘yung cause of death, lingering illness po ‘yung kinamatay ng ating dating Chief PNP,” said PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo. 

(The attending physician himself knows the background and the state of our former PNP Chief and has already issued a death certificate. The cause of death of our former PNP Chief is lingering illness.)
 

The Philippine flag at Camp Crame is at half-mast as a sign of mourning for Cascolan’s passing.—RF, GMA Integrated News