Lawyer for mall owners decries ‘harassment’

The law firm representing the owners of the Harrison Plaza denounced yesterday the filing of frustrated parricide against its client’s son, saying it was pure harassment.

A member of the Puyat, Jacinto, Santos Law Office, the firm representing several members of the Martel family, issued a statement in behalf of 43-year-old Robert "Roby" Martel, who sits at the board of directors of Harrison Plaza.

Melissa Mercado-Martel, 43, filed charges against Roby last Thursday, accusing him of shooting her in the abdomen in August last year. It took her three and a half months to recuperate at the Makati Medical Center.

The law firm said the move by Melissa to file frustrated parricide against her estranged husband Roby was "in anticipation of the charges to be filed against her for unlawfully taking possession of properties belonging to Mr. Martel and the Martel family."

The lawyer added their client could file charges against her for allegedly taking several items from their condominium last Jan. 13. They have not yet conducted an inventory of all the missing items.

A source said Roby allegedly went to the police station on Jan. 16 and complained that his wife Melissa along with six companions went to their unit on the fifth floor of the Ritz Tower on Ayala Avenue, Makati City three days earlier.

At 2:56 p.m., Melissa and her companions allegedly opened the unit’s door and took away assorted cartons of boxes, black plastic bags, luggage that contained unknown items and assorted kitchen ware. They reportedly placed it inside two waiting vehicles.

Martel’s lawyer clarified that since the unit was neither owned by Roby nor Melissa, she had no authority to take items out of the condominium unit. The unit was being leased by the "family corporation."

He added the couple also signed a dissolution of conjugal partnership in 1988, meaning they have separate properties, which meant the items that she allegedly took out of the condominium three months ago did not belong to her.

The firm and the Martel family are at present still discussing what formal charges to lodge against Melissa before a regular court. Roby has not yet received a copy of the complaint filed by his wife.

During last Monday’s interview, Melissa told reporters that the relatives of her husband allegedly harassed and pressured by her husband into signing an affidavit of desistance on Oct. 15 last year. But the lawyer said her statement was a "pure lie" because Roby was reportedly out of the country on the said date.

Last Monday, Melissa accompanied by her legal counsel from the Calleja Saulog Law Office, said her husband for 20 years was a "violent man."

"I though about it, I have kept my silence for so long but it is also my moral responsibility and Roby should also suffer the consequences that he has done. I tried to keep the peace in the family, for the sake of my children, and try to keep things quiet. But I have reached the point that I also have to speak out," Melissa said.