Thursday, January 03, 2008 Castro seeks reconsideration on IBP ruling
THE Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Commission on Bar Discipline has found Assistant Cebu City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro guilty in a disbarment case filed against her in 2005, sources say.
The resolution was released last Aug. 17, 2007 yet and covered her alleged liability in taking from the records of a trial court a photograph of a businessman whom she previously traded charges with.
Castro, in a text message sent to Sun.Star Cebu yesterday, denied knowing about or having been served with the resolution. She said she and Jake Yu have settled all their differences out of court before Christmas.
But reporters were able to secure a copy of a motion for reconsideration, dated Dec. 27, that Castro signed and submitted to the IBP committee.
“Well, let’s just wait until we can receive a copy of the dismissal and dropping of the charges,” she said.
In the six-page document, she asked that her motion for reconsideration be granted “and that an order be issued declaring the dismissal of the above case.”
She said that the commission “failed to appreciate” her contentions that she acted in good faith when she took the pictures from the file in the custody of Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 8 Judge Rosabella Tormis.
She said the anti-graft office dismissed the criminal aspect of the complaint for lack of probable cause.
She argued that the commission did not hold a mandatory conference before resolving the case and that this violated the rules of procedure.
She said she and Yu are “on the way towards an amicable settlement conveying positive sign of reconciliation and have agreed in the spirit of the Yuletide season and Christian forgiveness to execute their respective affidavits of desistance voluntarily and freely.”
Lawyer Vicente Fernandez II, counsel for Yu, said in a separate interview that they are still trying to get a copy of the commission’s original resolution. He said a copy was reportedly served but was returned.
Parking
On the reported amicable settlement, Fernandez said he had no knowledge of one being prepared or executed.
Castro and the Yus have exchanged a number of civil, criminal and administrative cases before both the trial courts and the anti-graft office.
In one case, Yu accused the prosecutor of stealing a photo he submitted as part of a previous application for bail before Tormis’ sala.
Castro, for her part, said she merely wanted to use the photo as part of a pleading she was submitting to a separate but still related case. She admitted, though, that she didn’t ask for permission because she was “in a hurry.”
Their conflict stemmed from a July 10, 2004 traffic altercation that began when the prosecutor parked her Kia Pride sedan in front of Yu’s business establishment and, in effect, stopped Yu’s trucks from making pickups and deliveries.
When the businessman and his brother pushed the car to clear the driveway, they said the prosecutor shouted at and berated them, left and then came back with a phalanx of policemen who accused them of damaging her car.
According to the Yus, Castro offered them a settlement but required that they pay for the alleged damage on her vehicle, an amount that they said went beyond the actual value of the car. (KNR)
