Ombudsman files perjury case against proseuctor Castro

CEBU, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman Visayas yesterday filed a case for perjury before the Municipal Trial Court in Barili against controversial prosecutor Mary Ann Castro after the anti-graft office denied her motion for reconsideration of her earlier indictment of the crime.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez approved the denial of Castro’s motion for reconsideration on the 2006 resolution of the Ombudsman Visayas finding probable cause to charge her with perjury.

The anti-graft office said it has found “no cogent reason or sufficient justification to disturb” its earlier resolution. The Ombudsman denied Castro’s motion for reconsideration with finality for lack of merit.

The denial of Castro’s motion has prompted the Ombudsman Visayas to file the information of the case yesterday before the court. The anti-graft office has recommended P12,000 bail for her temporary liberty.

The case stemmed from Castro’s filing of two petitions for annulment of marriage before the Regional Trial Courts in Mandaue City and Barili, respectively.

Brothers Jake and Nanak Donsaint Yu who Castro had engaged in a traffic altercation in 2004 filed the complaint against her before the Ombudsman. The complainants said that Castro filed a petition for nullity of marriage against her estranged husband, Rocky Rommel Roa, before the RTC Branch 56 in Mandaue City on June 5, 2000. Judge Jesus dela Peña granted the petition on April 24, 2001 but the Court of Appeals declared the decision null and void in October 22, 2003 after the Office of the Solicitor General appealed the decision. — Fred P. Languido/MEEV      (THE FREEMAN)