Pacquiao goes incognito in QC court

Boxing idol Manny Pacquiao yesterday slipped into the Quezon City prosecutor’s office unnoticed by a horde of reporters who were waiting for him to appear at the court to answer a paternity suit filed by a 24-year-old woman who claimed that the boxing champ was the father of her baby boy.

Wearing big, dark glasses and oversized baseball cap, Pacquiao reportedly climbed the stairs of the Quezon City hall of justice unnoticed and went straight to the office of city assistant prosecutor Ma. Gracia Cadiz Casaclang to sign his counter affidavit.

"I was surprised to see him in my office," Casaclang told reporters during the preliminary investigation held at noon yesterday.

Even court employees who were preparing for lunch did not notice Pacquiao.

The city prosecutor said she allowed Pacquiao to take his oath with his lawyer Jose Crisostomo but did not accept the documents Crisostomo officially submitted.

Lawyer Vic Rodriguez who accompanied his client, Joanne Rose Bacusa, and her two-year- old son said the more Pacquiao avoids confrontation with her client, the more the case will build up against him.

Bacusa for her part expressed disappointment over Pacquiao’s failure to show up at the preliminary investigation.

Earlier, Bacusa and her son went to the St. Luke’s Hospital to undergo DNA testing. However, doctors deferred the procedure pending the appearance of Pacquiao, which is a requirement for any paternity test.

The hospital visit was in response to Pacquiao’s earlier statement that he is willing to undergo DNA test to determine if he is really the father of the child.

The test did not proceed due to the hospital policy which requires both parents to be present during the blood sample gathering to preserve the integrity of the test.

"If respondent Pacquiao will honor and be faithful to his words befitting his lofty stature in country as "hero" and gentleman worthy of the entire nation’s adulation as what he projected to be, it’s now his call to go to the St Luke’s Hospital to submit his blood sample for DNA test," Rodriguez said.

Pacquiao’s lawyer, however, ignored the challenge saying the real issue is the criminal complaint filed against his client.

He also refused to give details on Pacquiao’s answers to the charges of violence against women and their children, saying that the law provides that the case should not be discussed in the media.

"We do not want to violate the confidentiality of case," Crisostomo said, referring to the media exposures instigated by Bacusa.

But Rodriguez said the confidentiality of the case is only applied to the victim and not to the accused.

He said the victims should invoke the confidentiality of the case.

"In this case its the victim that is giving out her statement to the media," Rodriguez said.