Ombudsman indicts Castro for perjury

The Office of the Ombudsman indicted Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro for perjury for filing petitions for annulment of her marriage one after the other in two separate venues.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez approved the resolution of the anti-graft office in the Visayas recommending the filing of the information of the case for perjury against Castro before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities.

Acting Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Palanca Santiago recommended the filing of the case in court against Castro. The case stemmed from a criminal complaint for falsification of public documents and perjury earlier filed by Jake Yu and his brother Nanak.

The complainants said Castro filed two similar petitions for annulment of her marriage before the Regional Trial Courts in Mandaue City and Barili town in violation of the Supreme Court circular against forum shopping.

Castro filed the first annulment case on June 5, 2000 against her husband Rocky Rommel Roa before the RTC Branch 56 in Mandaue City, which was subsequently granted by Judge Jesus de la Peña on April 21, 2001. However, the Court of Appeals nullified de la Peña's decision and ordered to remand the case to its court of origin for further proceedings.

But instead of pursuing the case, Castro filed a motion to dismiss on December 11, 2003 on the ground that she is no longer interested to continue the trial of her petition after the ruling of the appellate court allegedly because it would mean extra effort, time and money on her part.

However, the Yu brothers found out that prior to the filing of the motion to dismiss, Castro already filed another petition for the annulment of her marriage before the RTC in Barili.

Castro allegedly lied in her certification of non-forum shopping when she denied that a similar petition was still pending before the Mandaue City RTC.

Castro denied she committed any violation because the case she filed before the Mandaue City RTC is allegedly for declaration of absolute nullity based on psychological incapacity while the one she filed before the Barili RTC is for the voidability of her marriage on the basis of fraud.

However, the anti-graft office ruled that it is undisputed that Castro filed two similar petitions for annulment of her marriage, which she did not disclose in her certification of non-forum shopping.

The Ombudsman did not agree on Castro's contention because the real issue on both petitions she filed is the annulment of her marriage, adding that the grounds that Castro cited in her counter-affidavit are entirely different from the issue.

Castro's non-disclosure of the pending petition at Mandaue City RTC in the second case she filed before the Barili RTC in the certification of non-forum shopping is a willful and deliberate assertion of falsehood, according to the Ombudsman resolution. - Fred P. Languido