Monday, February 23, 2004
Medel’s stay in jail makes life harder for family
By LINETTE C. RAMOS
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THOUGHTS of his children who can’t go to college and the daily task of leading prayers in the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) jail cell keep Philip Medel Jr. busy these days.
While his imprisonment is keeping him away from his children, he prays to be cleared of the murder charge filed against him for the slaying of actress Nida Blanca in November 2001.
Medel, 56, said his case took its toll not only on his health but on his family life as well.
Medel’s sons can no longer go to college.
The former supervisor of a mining company in Africa also reiterated his innocence in the Nida Blanca case, saying politics is at play and that he was a “fall guy.”
Jewel Rey, 23, and Ramonchito, 18, hope to get a college degree, but it will only happen if their father is released and their once quiet life returns to normal.
Since Medel’s imprisonment, his wife Survenia’s honorarium as barangay councilor in Looc Norte, Asturias, Cebu could barely make ends meet, much less send her children to college.
“But life has to go on. He is in prison and we don’t know if and when he will be cleared so we also have to provide for ourselves here. Bahala na ang Ginoo namong tanan (We commit everything to the Lord),” Survenia, 54, said in a phone interview.
Medel earlier admitted that he killed Blanca but later recanted his statement, saying that policemen from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group tortured him so he would own up to the actress’ murder.
He first claimed that Rod Lauren Strunk, Blanca’s American husband, promised him money for the killing, but later said that he didn’t even know the widower.
At the NBI jail cell, Medel keeps himself preoccupied by singing daily with the videoke and leading other inmates in the evening prayers, “because only God will save me,” he said.
(February 23, 2004 issue)
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