MANILA – The family of a hypertensive-diabetic man who died after a brutal mauling by indie actor Eugene Tejada is seriously considering pursuing murder charges against the actor, even as police investigators noted his martial arts background gave him “superior strength.”
Police Officer 1 Wilmer Privado said in the course of investigating the case against Tejada – who beat up Frenil Bautista in a supermarket in San Mateo, Rizal on Nov. 22 after his live-in partner May Jana Malillin claimed Bautista touched her – the probers found out that, “na itong suspek natin sa pambubugbog is merong background ng jiujitsu at malaki pa [this suspect in the mauling has a background in jujitsu and has a bigger build].”
Privado added, “so may [there is] greater use of superior strength talaga [actually] so dahil nga sa ganun in-entertain namin yung kaso sa kabila pero in-entertain din namin yung kaso sa kabila which is naaresto din ‘yung tao [so because of that we entertained the case filed by Bautista’s family even though he was originally the one tagged a suspect for which he was arrested].”
The wife of Bautista, 44, said her husband – whom the family earlier described as someone who occasionally gets dizzy spells because of his ailments – had been brutally killed. She insisted he is innocent of the allegation of acts of lasciviousness, which is out of character. She said he might have felt dizzy at the supermarket and had inadvertently held on to Malillin in a bid to regain his balance because he feared collapsing.
“Hypertensive, may heart problem and diabetic yung asawa ko, so once na tumaas o bumaba ang kanyang sugar maa-out of balance siya kasi nawawalan ng balance ang mga diabetic, e so pag naglakad ‘yan at bumaba o tumaas mapapahawak iyan para hindi siya tumumba [My husband is hypertensive, has a heart problem and is diabetic, so once his sugar plunges or spikes he may lose balance and he tends to hold on to wherever so he won’t fall],” Mary Jane Bautista explained in an interview.
Tearfully, she recalled that they were supposed to spend a few days in Baguio this December, for a belated celebration of their wedding anniversary in July.
She described Bautista, a supervisor at Beta Equipment Sales Corp., as “very sweet to his family,” and as someone who could never think of disrespecting a woman.
She said Malillin, before hysterically accusing her husband of groping, could have simply asked Bautista first if something was wrong with him, as it was obvious he looked unwell.
SPO1 Privado said the guards who found Bautista lying down inside a comfort room noted all of his injuries were in the head.
Skull fractures
Subsequent records from doctors furnished the police showed Bautista suffered serious fractures in the skull which, Privado explained in Filipino, “could not have been caused by mere punching.”
The probers also checked the medical records of Bautista, confirming the family’s claim he had hypertension and diabetes, leaving open the possibility “hindi niya sadya na manghipo so parang lumalabas dun na nahihilo na siya, so ang gagawin niya humawak para hindi matumba [he did not mean to grope a woman but had randomly held on to something to prevent himself from falling].”
That, added Privado, may have been misinterpreted as “acts of lasciviousness na sinasabi na nag-provoke sa suspek na bugbugin yung biktima [that provoked suspect Tejada to beat up the victim].”
Probers still await the CCTV footage of the incident, but a guard said they found Bautista in a restroom where they rushed on hearing a commotion.
“May nagsabi sa guard , nagpunta sila dun nung malaman na may kaguluhan ang nangyari; inawat nila so nakahandusay na yung tao [Someone alerted the guard, they went there to check; they stopped the attack, but the man – Bautista – was sprawled on the ground].”
Bautista’s wife said his hypertension attack was apparently worsened by the beating and the humiliation he suffered. The police had described him as incoherent when brought to the police station to face the complaint of Malillin, and little did they know he already had a blood clot, which surgeons at the Marikina Valley Medical Center tried to remove.
