Ted Failon’s Wife is Now Dead

as of 8:50 PM, April 16

My deepest condolences to Ted Failon’s family.

Trinidad Arteche-Etong, the wife of veteran ABS-CBN newscaster Ted Failon, has been declared dead at 8:50 PM by doctors at the New Era General Hospital Thursday evening. She passed away about 20 minutes after doctors tried to revive her, Peter Musngi reported Thursday night over radio dzMM.

Source: Ted Failon’s Wife Dies from ABS CBN


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My husband and I watched the video above and hubby immediately noticed that one piece of evidence, the “Suicide or apology note” is being handled by reporters. Shouldn’t the evidence be secured and tucked in a safe place? Talk about being responsible. Anyway, the note says this:

““”Papa, Im so so sorry gustong gusto ko pong magsabi sa yo ng totoo, pero hindi ko po alam kung papaano ko uumpisahan.

“Sobrang takot na takot po ako. Umalis po muna ako. Kasi hindi ko po kayang at nahihiya po ako sayo humarap.

“Sana po mapawad mo ako papa. Sorry, sorry Papa

Mama” [I want to tell the truth but I don’t know how to start. I was afraid that is why I left]…

Okay, I find it strange that the wife addresses Ted Failon as “po” so many times. Being Visayan, I might have made the wrong assumption on the usage of “po” since the “po” word is not part of my Cebuano dialect. Or she is just very respectful when she speaks in tagalog. I don’t know. There are just so many inconsistencies from the news reports. (see update below)

Update April 16 11:00 AM

“It was a self-inflicted incident. My mother tried to commit suicide by shooting herself in the head,” said Kaye Etong in an interview over dzMM.

She added that the supposed letter from her mother bore her true handwriting.

“I know my mother’s handwriting. Nung nakita ko ‘yung kopya ng sulat, alam kong sulat po ‘yun ni Mama (When I saw a copy of the letter, I know Mama’s handwriting),” said the daughter, adding that the use of the words ““po” and ““opo” was normal for her mother.

(Source: ‘My mom tried to commit suicide’ )

As of this writing (10:00 PM, April 15), there is no official report from the SOCO [Scene of Crime Operatives]. News Report cite that as of posting time, Trinidad Arteche Etong, 44, was brain dead.

Brain Dead.

I’ve heard those words blaring in my ears at the emergency room as my son lay dying on the hospital bed. It is a shock to hear words like “clinically dead” or “brain dead”. It’s like giving hope that a miracle may happen but the truth is , it simply means dead. No life. The heart beats but it is artificially stimulated by a drug. You know the brain has no more activity but one wants to hold on to any small fringes of hope.

I don’t know the circumstances behind the shooting of Ted Failon’s wife. I can only speculate as either suicide attempt or domestic violence.

The family must be feeling shaken, unsure and vulnerable.

It is a matter of time. And all I can offer are my prayers.

Updates (Most Recent)

Ted Failon’s wife passes away

Kaye Failon, daughter of Ted Failon says ‘My mom tried to commit suicide’

The Failon Shooting Incident from Bandila

About Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

You may contact Noemi (noemidado @ gmail.com) for speaking and consultancy services in the following areas: Parenting in the Digital Age (includes pro-active parenting on cyber-bullying and bullying) ; Social Business ; Reinventing One’s Life; and social media engagement. Our parenting workshop is called "Prep to Prime (P2P): Parenting in the Digital Age (An Un­Workshop)" P2P Un­Workshops are conducted by two golden women in their prime, Noemi and Jane, who have a century’s worth of experience between them. They are both accomplished professionals who chose to become homemakers. This 180­degree turn also put them on a different life course which includes blogging, social media engagement and citizen advocacy. They call their un­workshops Prep to Prime or P2P, for short, to emphasize the breadth of their parenting experience. They tackle different aspects and issues of parenting ­­ from managing pregnancies, prepping for the school years of children, dealing with househelp, managing the household budget, to maximizing one’s prime life and staying healthy through the senior years.

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