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Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Mary Ann Castro far from all clear
WHILE she convinced the Court of Appeals (CA) to reverse the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas’ decision to suspend her for six months, Assistant Cebu City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro still has three other cases against her.
These cases remain pending before other divisions of the appellate courts.
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, meanwhile, isn’t about to take Associate Justice Mercedes Gozo-Dadole’s reversal of their administrative decision sitting down.
Both Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro and Ombudsman Director Virginia Santiago said the legal affairs department of the Central Office is already communicating with the Office of the Solicitor General for the filing of a motion for reconsideration.
Deputy Ombudsman Miro said the anti-graft office here will provide whatever the central office requires, although they will not be involved in the actual filing.
Ombudsman Director Santiago, for her part, said the office might even resort to filing a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court (SC).
The first pending case against Castro is the unresolved anti-graft investigation against her for her alleged illicit relationship with businessman Zandro Augusto. This is being handled by Santiago.
The case was still on the fact-finding level, but Castro filed a petition for injunction before the appellate court, asking it to issue a restraining order against the investigation.
While the petition for injunction was denied, allowing the fact-finding investigation to resume, the anti-graft office resolved to belay the fact-finding investigation until a final ruling is issued.
The two other cases are for violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act separately filed by businesswoman Emily Rose Kho Lim Chao and lawyer Florencio Yosores.
Chao accused the prosecutor of using her influence in rescinding a deal between Chao’s KD Surplus and Castro’s brother.
Yosores, for his part, accused her of submitting to court a comment that pertained to a case somebody else was handling, leading to its dismissal.
In both cases, the anti-graft already resolved to convict her. Castro was suspended for a total of nine months.
“There is nothing personal in the cases we filed against her (Castro) and she shouldn’t take our filing of those cases as something personal,” Santiago said in an interview yesterday.
Santiago’s statement was sought because of a comment that Castro made right after receiving the CA decision. Castro asked the people in the anti-graft office to repent in time for Lent and said she will forgive them for what they’ve done.
“She doesn’t have to forgive me because I haven’t asked for her forgiveness,” Santiago said in an interview yesterday.
She maintained that the cases filed against Castro were the product of the evidences the anti-graft office gathered in the investigations they launched against her.
“We are both investigators. She should understand what this job is all about. An investigator doesn’t file cases because of personal reasons. Investigators file cases based on evidence. I have nothing personal against her worth apologizing or forgiving. I don’t know her from Adam,” Santiago said. KNR
(March 31, 2004 issue)
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