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