Prosecutor Mañalac faces unjust vexation complaint

Regional State Prosecutor Vicente Mañalac is facing a complaint for unjust vexation after he allegedly went berserk when a Western Union branch at Fuente Osmeña reportedly gave him a hard time claiming money sent to him yesterday morning.

Gene Rose Magalso, a cashier of Petnet Western Union, filed a complaint before the Fuente Police Station accusing Mañalac of unjust vexation after the fiscal accused the establishment of stealing his money.

Based on the allegation of the complainant, Mañalac came to their office to claim the money that was sent to him.

Magalso said the fiscal was able to present his identification card showing that he was a regional state prosecutor. But Magalso found out that the name of the receiver of the money was Vincent Mañalac, which is different from the name on the ID he presented.

The management then advised Mañalac to call the sender to change the recipient's name. This reportedly irked the fiscal who demanded that the manager should be the one to call the sender.

But when the cashier said that it is against the company's policy, Mañalac then kicked the door of the establishment in the presence of policemen, the firm's security guard and some clients.

The complainant said the prosecutor then accused them of stealing his money. Mañalac also allegedly threatened to file a case against the company for withholding his money, which he said he badly needed.

But in an interview, Mañalac said he was supposed to be the complainant since his money was not released even if he had shown the cashier the code number sent to him by the sender.

He said he even appealed to her that he would just execute an affidavit, and have the released money reported to the police station, including the Xerox copy of his ID and other documents, as proof that he was the one who received it.

But since Magalso would not heed his appeal, Mañalac said he went to the Fuente Police Station to seek for help, as he wanted Magalso arrested for withholding his money.

"I have expressed my intention that I will conduct a warrantless arrest because a crime has been committed in my presence, so I called the police. Ang spelling wrong pero ang tag-iya dili, pareho gihapon…When you assert your right, you are not vexing. I am the one who is vexed not them," Mañalac said. - Flor Z. Perolina/LPM