By Val G. Abelgas

I grieved for Angelo Reyes long ago, when he started playing footsie with Gloria Arroyo. Now, I must grieve again. – Val Abelgas

W hile it seems proper that we pause to give the family of Gen. Angelo Reyes time to grieve, I must agree with Ado Paglinawan that the general's suicide was an act of cowardice. While facing death with dignity is a courageous act, it is at the same time an obvious fear of facing and confronting the truth. He was afraid to face the truth and was unwilling to help pursue the truth. He ran away from what should have been the battle of his life, an opportunity to redeem his dignity, if indeed he was not guilty as charged. With his death, he chose to bury the truth with him as he knew it. It will now be left to the living to ferret out the truth.

Overlooked in the shock that came with his suicide was the fact that before he decided to end his life, there was a call from his former master, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a call he seemed to worry about as narrated by a friend, former rebel soldier, Rex Robles. "Pare, tinawagan ako ni GMA," he was quoted to have told Robles in a phone call a few hours before he went to meet his fate. He told Robles that Mrs. Arroyo wanted to know who was the mistah (Philippine Military Academy alumnus) of Senator Trillanes who delivered Reyes' letter to the senator. In his letter, Angelo Reyes demanded that Mr. Trillanes reveal the powerful person behind retired Gen. Carlos Garcia, and why Robles was attacking Representative Golez.

These two questions could as well lead to the truth, a truth Reyes was afraid to face.

I grieved for Angelo Reyes long ago, when he started playing footsie with Gloria Arroyo. Now, I must grieve again. # # #

Editor’s Note: Val G. Abelgas is a seasoned journalist and editor who’s based in Los Angeles, California. He was one of 11 Filipino-American media practitioners who received on Nov. 30, 2001, the First Media Breakfast Club-Dean Jose S. Reyes Award for Journalistic Excellence, they having served honorably the reading public for at least 30 years each in the Philippines and in the United States. # # #