An official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that an out-of-court settlement might be in the offing between the Ultra stampede victims and ABS-CBN management.

At the preliminary investigation held at the Department of Justice (DOJ) this morning, NBI-National Capital Region Executive Officer Ferdinand Lavin revealed that ABS-CBN chief legal counsel Regis Puno, while addressing the DOJ prosecution panel, faced the complainants and said that they were actually after a deferment of the case to give them time to discuss their proposal with the victims.

The DOJ panel, however, did not accept such a motion, as State Prosecutor Peter Ong said it was not the proper forum for such talks. He added that if the respondent was amenable to an out-of-court settlement, then they should set a separate meeting with the legal counsel of the complainants.

''The NBI is only a nominal complainant.  The real complainants, or the aggrieved party are the relatives of the fatalities.  We merely represented them,'' Lavin said.

He explained if the out-of-court settlement pushes through and the victims are asked by ABS-CBN to execute an affidavit of desistance, then the criminal case filed against the broadcasting giant will naturally be dismissed.

Lavin said a dismissal would put the NBI out of the picture, and they feel that their efforts had been wasted.

The official tally of victims in the Feb. 4 stampede at the ULTRA is 71 fatalities and around 891 injured.