The female job applicant who claimed to have been molested by a radio broadcaster will no longer seek redress from the court.
Cathy (not her real name) filed an affidavit of desistance before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office to confirm her intention to withdraw the complaint she filed against Vernilo Cabusao, the news and public affairs program manager of Brigada News FM.
She went to the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office at 4 p.m. Wednesday to submit the document.
Asst. City Prosecutor Aurora Peñaflor said she has yet to go through the affidavit and decide whether or not she will dismiss the case against Cabusao.
“I have to study this first before I’ll come up with a resolution,” said Peñaflor who was out of her office yesterday to attend a seminar on cybercrime.
Consequences
She said she asked Cathy whether or not someone forced her to execute an affidavit of desistance. “I inquired if she knew the consequences of what she’s doing and whether or not her affidavit of desistance was voluntary. She said yes,” the prosecutor said.
Peñaflor said an affidavit of desistance won’t always entail the dismissal of charges against a respondent.
“It depends. Remember that when a case reaches the court, it is People of the Philippines versus the accused. It’s not only the victim who is aggrieved here,” she said.
“If I’ll find loopholes in the testimonies of the complainant and her witnesses, I will dismiss the case. But if the evidence against the respondent is strong, then I have to proceed,” she added.
Cabusao is facing a complaint for violating Republic Act 7877 or the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995.
In her affidavit, Cathy said Cabusao drove her to a motel in Mabolo, Cebu City on Oct. 19, 2013.
She said Cabusao told her to stop complaining or else she won’t be hired as a reporter. Cathy said the respondent undressed her and tried to have sex with her but she refused.
Cabusao, in an interview last Wednesday, denied the allegations and described Cathy’s accusations as “fabricated.”