Why, oh, why did Angie Reyes kill himself?

By Al S. Mendoza

FIVE Ws and one H: What, Who, When, Where, Why and How.

The six words are the main components of a news item, or column for that matter.

Let us use the suicide of Gen. Angelo “Angie” Reyes for the usage of the five Ws and one H.

OK, class, let’s begin.

What happened?

A person, police said, committed suicide.

Who committed suicide?

Gen. Angelo “Angie” Reyes (ret).

How did he do it?

By shooting himself with a handgun.

When did it happen?

On February 8, 2011, a Tuesday morning.

Where did it happen?

At the Loyola Memorial Park, in Marikina City.  By the tomb of the general’s mother.

Now the letter W:  Why.

Why did the general commit suicide?

This is the hardest to answer compared to the first four Ws and one H.

Why, because only the suicide victim could categorically provide the answer.

In the absence of a suicide note, police are in virtually in the dark: A dead person tells no tales.

So, we speculate.

Days before the suicide, Angie Reyes was accused of having allegedly received P50 million from military funds as send-off money (pabaon) when he retired as the AFP Chief of Staff in 1999.

If true, unsavory, to say the least.

The accuser was Col. George Rabusa (ret.), the former budget officer of Reyes when Reyes was AFP Chief of Staff.

Reyes must have been terribly hurt by this since Rabusa has become a close friend to the Reyes family. Rabusa had stood as main wedding sponsor (ninong) to not only one but two sons of Reyes.

Rabusa himself shed tears moments after learning that Reyes killed himself the day President Noynoy Aquino turned 51.

Reyes did not die instantly.

Lying on his mother’s tomb mortally wounded, Reyes told his sons, Mark and Judd: “Sorry ha, sorry ha.”

That was Reyes’ answer to his son’s question, “Why Dad?  Why?”

The sons were in the family car parked nearby waiting for their Dad when they heard the lone gunfire from a .45 caliber.

Reyes had told his sons, after praying together by the tombs of Reyes’ parents:  “Go ahead.  I’ll follow in a little while.”

Reyes likewise had ordered his bodyguard to join Reyes’ sons to the car.

The guard was merely paces away from Reyes when the shot shattered the stillness of the day just starting.

Reyes was dead on arrival at the Quirino Labor Hospital in Proj. 4, Q.C., which was just merely 20 minutes away from the suicide scene.

Now to the crucial W in a news story: Why.

Why did Reyes shoot himself?

Seemingly, he made sure he’d do it without fail: A lefty, Reyes aimed his gun at his heart.

Why did he do it?

He couldn’t bear the pain of seeing his name tarnished by a Senate hearing over his alleged involvement in money scams in the military?

He would not want to see his family, especially his wife, getting dragged into the ugly glare of the spotlight arising from the Senate probe that might forever besmirch his name?

Admittedly, he was deeply hurt by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s rebuke of him in the Senate hearing:  “You have no reputation to protect!”

Look, aside from being formerly the highest military officer of the land, Reyes had previously held four cabinet positions as secretary of National Defense, Environment and Natural Resources, Interior and Local Government, and Energy.  He was also formerly the head of an Anti-Organized Crime, a Cabinet rank.

I think that’s a record.

Again, why did Reyes commit suicide?

He was not facing charges in Court, he was merely being asked by the Senate to air his side on Rabusa’s allegation he amassed military money illegally.

A day before the suicide, Reyes allegedly told fellow retired military officer, Rex Robles:  “A powerful group is out to get me because I am without power anymore.  Dudurugin nila ako. [They will crush me.].”

Was he guilty as Rabusa alleged?

Or was Reyes, who appeared tough in public, wearing merely a marshmallow mask all this time and wasn’t actually clothed with nerves of steel?

Shakespeare said that any suicide is a cowardly act.

But in death, Reyes, if ever he, indeed, had believed he had become defenseless now that he was back as a private citizen, naked of power, still managed to score one major triumph – phyrric, if not eerie, as it may seem: He deprived his enemies of victory, if not conquest.

In that sense, he was a soldier, the classic kind, to the very end.

He refused to be cornered.

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