Gabby pleads not guilty to bigamy

Actor Gabby Concepcion pleaded “not guilty” to bigamy charges filed against him when he was arraigned before a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) yesterday.

Concepcion was accompanied by his lawyer, Ed Flaminiano, during the arraignment before the sala of Judge Jansen Rodriguez, who set the pre-trial hearing on May 8.

Concepcion’s bigamy case stemmed from a complaint of a certain Mamerto dela Cruz, a resident of Libis, Quezon City, who alleged “that on July 23, 1984, Concepcion, being then legally married to Jennifer Martin, and without such marriage, having been legally dissolved, did then and there willfully unlawfully and feloniously contract a second or subsequent marriage with one Sharon Cuneta.”        

One of the prosecution witnesses is the Manila city registrar.

Concepcion had earlier posted P12,000 bail on the bigamy charges. The prosecution, however, petitioned the court yesterday to increase Concepcion’s bail to P24,000.

Meanwhile, a separate case of falsification of public documents against Concepcion is pending before the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC).

Branch clerk of court Florentino Mercado Jr. said the court set the arraignment of Concepcion before the sala of MTC Judge Marlo Malagar on April 30. He did not give further details of the case.

Concepcion arrived in the country on March 30 after spending several years in the United States. The next day, he posted bail in connection with the falsification of public documents case.

Mercado said the case was archived while Concepcion was out of the country since 1995.

Flaminiano said the “falsification of public document through omission” was slapped against Concepcion because of a supposedly “ante-dated” entry of an application for the marriage license in the Manila civil registry.  

Reports had said that the falsification of documents has something to do with his application for the marriage. Court sources, however, refused to say who the bride was. – Sandy Araneta