Provincial fiscal inhibits from libel case filed by Bantayan mayor

Provincial prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba yesterday inhibited herself from handling a libel case filed by Bantayan Mayor Geralyn Escario Cañares against political rivals Honesto Gapud Ybañez, Jr., and Marissa Gapud Ceniza.

Petralba asked regional state prosecutor Antonio Arellano to assign the case to another office to avoid suspicions of bias because Cañares was once her client when she was still a private practioner or before she became provincial prosecutor.

It was the second time Petralba inhibited from a case involving a former client, the first one of whom was Mayor Celestino Martinez III in the bank robbery case in Bogo.

Petralba said it has always been her principle, as a provincial prosecutor, to keep her hands off cases involving people who have been her clients before, to preserve credibility and integrity of her public office and for delicadeza.

Cañares filed a case for libel against Ybañez and Ceniza, who accused her as a land grabber in a newspaper report last December 13, thus maligning her and putting her in public ridicule. - Fred P. Languido