“ASHLEY’S BOYFRIEND THANKED PRES. DUTERTE, FELT RELIEVE”

By Tonton Alcos Antogop

Nel Spencer Tiu, the boyfriend of Ashley Abad who died of ecstasy ingestion thanked President Rodrigo Duterte after the President himself cleared Tiu of allegations of letting Abad took the party drugs that caused her death.

“It is a vindication of his name, na clear gyud ang iyang name (his name is cleared), pasalamat gyud mi sa President, pasalamat gyud ang pamilya ug ako pud mismo (we are really thankful to the President, the family is thankful and me too),” Atty. Orlando Salatandre, Jr., the lawyer of the Tiu family told Newsph.org. in a telephone interview.

Salatandre said they felt relieved that it was no less than the President who cleared his client.

“Mismo ang highest authority in the country ang naka-discover kung unsa ang tinuod (It is the highest authority in the country himself who discovered the truth). We are really relieve.”

The President in Malacanang last Wednesday said, “She was the one who was actually texting another girl na maghati sila doon kasi ‘yung isa, reserba niya para sa kanyang boyfriend, ‘yung missing until now.”

“And to make a long shot guess na galing sa boyfriend, eh siya ‘yung may hawak eh. Siya nga nagsabi doon sa text, para ito sa boyfriend niya. So hindi ma-ano sa nanay pati tatay na,” the President added during the signing ceremony of the Universal Health Care Act and the Revised Corporation code.

According to Salatandre the statement of the President could serve as lesson for everybody, in not making conclusions and outright biases, especially involving high profile news stories.

“It was a lesson for us, we should not really jump into conclusions. Ang boyfriend agad ang na condemn from the start. It is really better to wait for the truth to come,” Salatandre pointed out.

That as the family of Ashley said that they are still consulting their lawyer on their move after what the President has stated.

“Our family will release a statement on this after our meeting with our lawyers,” Benny Abad, the uncle of Ashley and the spokesman of the Abad family said in messenger to this reporter.

The family of Ashley met with the President last  February 7 in Malacanang.

According to Salatandre, from the start, they knew what really happened but they opted not to surface because Nel Spencer too was deeply saddened.

“First he was shocked nga namatay ang iyang girl friend nga in love siya kaayo. Second, siya ang napasanginlan then third, threatened pud siya, ” the lawyer revealed.

Atty. Salatandre also said they indeed met with Police Regional Director, Chief Supt. Debold Sinas and Cebu City Police Director, Senior Supt. Royina Garma.

It was last February 14, Salatandre recalled, as he actually accompanied Nel Spencer and his parents.

The meeting was arranged by somebody who is also a high-government official, which Salatandre would not confirm however.

Meanwhile, the Tiu family according to high placed sources is into restaurant and apparel distribution business.

They owned a resto in The Greenery in barangay Mabolo where according to the source, Ashley and Spencer have even met prior to going in the music and dance party at the Cebu Business Park last January 19, a pre-Sinulog Festival activity where Ashley collapsed.

She was brought to a hospital where her attending physician had findings that the 19-year old college student ingested a party drug.

The PNP crime laboratory confirmed in an autopsy that was made on the body of Ashley that indeed she ingested party drugs, “an ecstasy overdose.”

During the incident, they were with their friends.

Ashley was enrolled in a known local university taking up accountancy.

About The Author