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Thursday, July 27, 2006
Lawyer punches worker over ‘buang’ remark
For allegedly calling him “buang” (insane), lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo, private prosecutor in the murder case against SPO1 Marcial Ocampo, punched Romulo Sotto, a clerk of the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.
This is according to the employees of the Palace of Justice who witnessed the incident.
William Solon, an employee of the prosecutor’s office, said Villagonzalo got angry when no one received his pleadings in an estafa case he is handling.
“He was grumbling because the secretary was not here to receive his pleadings. He was asked to wait for a while but he got mad. He tore the documents and went out immediately,” Solon said.
The lawyer allegedly banged the door behind him.
Lawyer ‘ignored’
Another witness, who asked not to be named, said Sotto, who was near the door, asked Villagonzalo what the problem was but the lawyer ignored him.
But before Villagonzalo left the Palace of Justice, he overheard Sotto calling him “buang.”
That got the ire of Villagonzalo, who turned back and allegedly punched Sotto.
Sotto was also reportedly able to punch Villagonzalo.
Argel Antiola, the security guard near the prosecutor’s office, was among those who pacified the two.
Antiola said Villagonzalo and Sotto later hugged each other as a sign of peace.
Villagonzalo, in an interview, admitted that the altercation between him and Sotto was an offshoot of his dismay after failing to file his pleadings.
Villagonzalo said it was already 1:30 p.m. and yet no one was in the office.
Dismay
“My wife was the one who went to the prosecutor’s office to have my pleadings received. Since she was gone for a long time, I went after her but no one paid attention to us. I asked them to receive my pleadings because my car was on emergency hazard and my five-year-old daughter was inside. But no one took action that’s why I tore my pleadings. I was already mad when I went out and then I heard him (Sotto) calling me insane. I approached him and we had an argument,” Villagonzalo said.
Solon, though, harbors no grudges.
“It’s okay,” Sotto, 60, told reporters about an hour after the incident.
Although he got hit in the stomach, Sotto said he was not hurt.
It was just a product of a misunderstanding, he said.
Sotto said Villagonzalo heard him utter the word “buang” and reacted. Villagonzalo asked Sotto who he was referring to and
hrew a punch.
Sotto will not be filing any case. “Maluoy sad ko ato niya, bata pa ra ba (I pity him. He is still young).” Katrina Nolasco Tabanao. (Correspondent/With JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 27, 2006 issue)
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