NEWS that former Defense Secretary and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes on Tuesday committed suicide shocked the nation, which had been engrossed the past weeks over investigations of corruption in the military.
Reyes found himself in the center of the investigation that started with Congress questioning the plea bargain agreement the Ombudsman struck with former AFP comptroller Gen. Carlos Garcia, who had been charged with plunder.
Reyes was himself accused of having received P50 million on his retirement from the AFP, as a going away present from suppliers and subordinates.
His death comes even as Filipinos are still reeling from revelations that some of the country’s top military officials have been pocketing hundreds of millions of pesos in funds.
In this slideshow, VERA Files photographer Mario Ignacio visited the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina where Reyes took his life with a gun. One of the photos shows the statue of St. Jude, patron saint of desperate and lost causes, towering over the grave of Reyes’ parents, the very spot where he was found dead.
And in this video, renowned photojournalist Luis Liwanag followed the news trail in the aftermath of Reyes’ suicide, from the Loyola Memorial Park where he died, the Quirino Hospital where he was taken, and to the Arlington Memorial Chapels in Quezon City where his remains now lie.
