Saturday, October 07, 2006 Castro files libel complaint against BI 7 director, reporter
AFTER being eased out of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) regional office in Cebu, Assistant City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro is seeking payback.
Castro, through lawyers Joey Luis Wee and Ferdinand Berongoy, filed a libel complaint against BI Central Visayas Director Geronimo Rosas with the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor on Thursday, accusing him of masterminding a “demolition job” against her.
She also sued Sun.Star Cebu reporter Elias O. Baquero for publishing an article based on Rosas’ information. The article came with what Castro describes as “a caricature of myself with my face enlarged.”
The article, she said, accused her of hiring a non-government worker to serve as her assistant.
The worker, identified as Normi D. Mante, nicknamed Gingging, allegedly collected notarial fees for Castro, from P200 per document a few months ago to P75 at present.
It also reported that she took part in visa application proceedings and conducts hearings although she was detailed to the BI only to “assist” Rosas in administrative cases.
Documents
Baquero, when sought for comment, said the news story was privileged communication because it was based on official documents supplied to him at the Palace of Justice.
Castro said the statements in the article “conditioned the mind of the reader that I had performed a discreditable activity inside the Bureau of Immigration 7 office” and that she “usurped an official authority.”
“In doing so, Mr. Baquero wittingly and openly, with the words employed, instilled in the minds of the public that I had committed a dishonorable act,” she said.
She said she wrote Baquero to inquire about the source of his story but that Baquero answered her with “his ghostly silence.”
She said she wrote to Rosas, who also did not reply. And when she inquired personally, Rosas reportedly denied knowing Baquero or speaking with him regarding the matter.
Records
She said she also wrote the anti-graft office to inquire if the records on a complaint Mante filed against Rosas were ever released to the media. The anti-graft office reportedly replied no. The complaint reportedly tackled partly the subject of Mante’s activities inside the BI.
“The records obviously did not come from the Office of the Ombudsman as shown in its reply to my letter. Nor did it come from Ms. Mante who executed an affidavit in this regard. Of course, the records could not have walked on its own. So from whom then?” she said.
“There is no need to stretch one’s imagination that it was Mr. Rosas, who as party to the case had with him copies of the records and who was interviewed in his office on June 21, 2006, the day before the news article came out,” she maintained.
Baquero said he is ready to present the documents he used in the report in the proper forum. He said that among them is the affidavit Mante executed before the anti-graft office. (KNR)
