Cebu City fiscal on the warpath

CEBU CITY — An assistant city prosecutor here is gearing up for a war against her detractors.

Mary Ann Castro told The Freeman that she is preparing to file administrative and criminal cases against two lawyers whom she accused of dragging her into a bribery mess.

The Office of the Ombudsman earlier ruled that Castro received the P10,000 alleged bribe money from lawyer Gines Abellana in connection with a drug case, and only returned it as an afterthought.

Castro said she will file a complaint for misconduct with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines against lawyers Pedro Leslie Salva and Abellana which may lead to their disbarment.

"I will only need good timing and sufficient evidence," she said.

Castro said she will also file a criminal charge against Abellana for trying to bribe her into compromising the prosecution’s position in the motion to bail of suspected Hong Kong triad member Giovanni Gimenez.

Aside from these cases, Castro said she is thinking of filing other related charges if only to prove her point that she has been unjustly treated in her quest to bring the truth to the public.

She, however, declined to reveal when she will file the cases, saying she is still gathering more evidence. — Freeman News Service