A ‘legal affair’

CEBU, Philippines - Two practicing lawyers, one a married man and the other a woman, were arrested after allegedly having a tryst inside a pension house in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, around 5 a.m. yesterday.

The wife of the man involved, who is a lawyer herself, already filed a complaint for concubinage under the Revised Penal Code and another complaint for violation of Republic Act 9262 (Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004) against the two before the Cebu City Prosecutors' Office yesterday afternoon.

Chief Inspector Wildemar Tiu, Mabolo Police Station chief, said around 9 p.m. Thursday they received a call from the wife seeking assistance because her husband was allegedly inside in a pension house with another woman.

The FREEMAN is withholding their names due to the nature of the case.

In an interview, the wife said on December 22, 2015 she went to the office of the alleged lover and told her to stop her advances on her husband or else she will file disbarment against her.

“I went to her office and told her that my husband is married and she should stop her hallucination about my husband. Then, she even challenged me to validate my evidence against her. Last night I was thinking my husband is not doing anything right because he did not yet come home at 8 p.m. I looked for his vehicle at the parking lot where he is working to my surprise wala na iyang car so I was thinking of the nearest hotel because my feeling is already uncontrollable,” she said.

After she saw her husband’s vehicle in a pension house parking lot, she asked the guard if her husband got off with someone else, but the security guard told her only a man disembarked from the vehicle and entered the hotel.

Out of desperation, she said she pleaded with the front office clerk and asked if her husband checked in, but the clerk was hesitant to provide information whether the husband was there or if he was with anyone else.

“I cried and told her that she is also a woman, she has a sister and she has a mother. My husband has been very unloyal to me so I must move on and search for answers to my questions. She pitied me after I told her that I can offer my free legal service for a lifetime and I can even help her and become her friend and I cried again. She really pitied me so she gave me the room number and went upstairs,” she said.

The wife said her helper, who was with her all that time, kept on knocking at the door but the room’s occupants did not go out. She said she asked for the room key but when she tried to open the door her husband allegedly pushed back. Thus, she asked for police assistance.

Though she insisted that the door be forcibly opened, policemen declined because of their maximum tolerance directive.

“So we waited a couple of hours. I was able to talk to my husband that he will come out if my ninang will come inside, because he wants my ninang to pacify me. So my ninang arrives. I was given the opportunity to come inside the room,” she said.

She added the room was totally dimmed and when she was about to turn on the light, her husband allegedly grabbed her hand and twisted it. The wife called for help and opened the door letting the policemen enter and arrest her husband.

His lover allegedly hid in the bathroom, reasoning that she cannot zip up the back of her dress and asked to be given time. Later she would ask to be arrested by a policewoman and one was eventually provided to take her in.

The lover allegedly worked a former legal researcher for the husband before she became a lawyer.

The wife said she filed the complaint against them because she had been fair in giving them enough time and warning to end their affair. She said maybe it was their familiarity that led to their affair.

“I think their familiarity. I was not visible in the office and I always tolerate my husband to do overtime work. I was so lenient, I was not expecting that their familiarity will lead to romance because my husband never changes his affection to me,” she added. The couple has only been married two years and have no children.

The husband and his alleged lover opted not to file a counter-affidavit and waived their right to a preliminary investigation which could have given them the chance to refute the allegations.

Under the law, a husband “who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place,” is guilty of concubinage.

In a separate interview, IBP-Cebu City Chapter President Hidelito Pascual said they will look into the incident once a complaint is filed before his office.

He said the IBP may take disciplinary action on its own and recommend to the Supreme Court any sanctions upon a lawyer if proven to have violated the provisions stipulated in the Code of Professional Responsibility.

He added that if an act committed is grave or “grossly immoral” it may be grounds for disbarment.

Meanwhile, a 66-year-old man shot dead another man who was allegedly the boyfriend of his partner out of jealousy yesterday afternoon at Sitio Babao Youth, Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.

Caesar Alcantara, of Sitio Upper Villa Bulsita, Barangay Bulacao, Cebu City, later surrendered to the Pardo Police Station after he shot Edgar Gonzales, 45, temporarily residing in Barangay Inayawan using a .38 cal. revolver.

Gonzales died yesterday evening at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center where he was rushed to after the shooting.

Police Officer 1 Jude Anthony Sonsona, desk officer of the Pardo Police Station said based on their initial investigation, Alcantara suspected his partner of five years was having an affair with Gonzales, which the woman denied.

However, Alcantara’s doubt only worsened after the woman asked Gonzales to fix the septic tank of her house.

Alcantara went to the house of the woman to confront Gonzales. During the confrontation Gonzales got angry and struck Alcantara with a burning piece of wood. Alcantara then took out a gun and shot Gonzales, hitting him in the left side of his body.

Sonsona said the suspect was already charged for homicide and violation of the Commission on Elections gun ban.

The suspect voluntarily surrendered his gun which had three live rounds, and one empty shell and is now detained at the Pardo Police Station. — with Frances Marianne C. Nudalo (FREEMAN)