Respect our privacy, DBP lawyer’s family appeals

Lawyer Benjie Pinpin was a very quiet and private man. It may be ironic that when he left us, he created quite a stir, for many thought he had the answers to a current investigation into a real or imagined fault.

However, it is clear to all, as his published final notes indicated, that he did not want his family to be dragged into the controversy. We will never know the reason what drove him to take his own life, and he can no longer say anything pertaining to any issue that his own company thought he was involved in.

It is therefore our wish that both the officials of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and government prosecutors and investigators on one hand, and the respondents/accused on the other hand, refrain from dramatizing his death or soliciting information, which has something to do with the allegedly anomalous loan transaction at the DBP, from any of the members of his family. Benjie took the ultimate sacrifice to spare his family and his reputation from being judged unfairly after all the years that he lived simply, honestly and quietly. He deserves to be left alone. At the same time, his family should be allowed to live in peace. We appeal to all those concerned to respect our privacy.

—AMALIA P. PINPIN AND FAMILY