Victim of bat attack plans to file more charges, denies she’s a mistress

‘CLEAR MY NAME’

Lawyer Jiecel Tiu, with a shoulder bruise from Thursday’s attack, says she won’t settle out of court: “Sorry, sobra na”. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

The lady lawyer who filed frustrated murder charges after being attacked with a baseball bat by an angry wife yesterday appealed to the  husband to clear her name.

“Dili ko kabit. (I am not a paramour),” said 30-year-old lawyer Jiecel Tiu, who lamented that she was falsely accused of having an affair with Ronda Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab.

In a press conference, the single lawyer came out to answer in detail the accusations of the official’s wife Pearl, who said the lady lawyer had wrecked their family by having an illicit relationship with her husband.

Tiu said the vice mayor called her up after Thursday’s violent encounter to ask her to settle the criminal case out of court, but she told him no: “Sobra na, sorry.”

“I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost everything except for my life that I’m trying to protect now,” she said in a press conference in her sister’s law office at the K and J Building in Cebu City.

“And so I appeal to Atty. (John Ungab), once and for all, to please make a stand. You know me very well. I’ve been so loyal to you as an associate lawyer. If you still consider me your friend and once your associate, please make a public statement. That’s all I’m asking of you,” she added.

Tiu had another request: Resolve your domestic problems with your wife and keep me out of it.

Tiu had worked at the Ungab, Gealon and Associates for four years before leaving last year to avoid alleged harassment by Mrs. Ungab  over rumors that she and Ungab were having an affair.

Last Thursday’s confrontation took place in a parking lot followed by a car chase along a Cebu City street.

Tiu’s sedan was rear-ended by the Nissan Navaro pickup truck driven by Mrs. Ungab, who then disembarked from her vehicle and smashed the car’s window with a 30-inch baseball bat before allegedly hitting the woman. The lady lawyer sustained bruises on her left shoulder, left ear and knees.

Mrs. Ungab in an interview with Cebu Daily News on Sunday said she was just retaliating because the lawyer earlier fired pepper spray  at her face during the encounter, then backed up  her car hitting Mrs. Ungab and her two-year-old daughter.

The angry wife justified her baseball bat attack saying her action “had nothing to do with jealousy” and that she acted as a mother  protecting her young daughter and unborn child since she was seven weeks pregnant.

REALLY PREGNANT?
Yesterday, that claim of pregnancy came under question.

Tiu’s lawyer Rex Fernandez said they are set to file additional charges against Mrs. Ungab for damage to property, qualified trespassing, oral defamation, libel  and civil damages.

They also plan to  file a complaint for obstruction of justice against officers of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

The accused wife was taken to the hospital after a brief stay in the Fuente police station jail, after she complained of “spotting” or bleeding due to her pregnancy.

“Mrs. Ungab was claiming to be sick and pregnant. Can they show a medical certificate to prove it? They have been refusing to submit to procedures by the police, and some officers of the hospital have been conniving with them,” Fernandez said.

He said they learned that Vice Mayor Ungab’s parents were connected with the government hospital.    The wife was examined by a doctor as part of standard police procedure but it was not clear which doctor certified her pregnancy or the need for her confinement.

Fernandez said Vice Mayor Ungab had categorically told Tiu’s family that his wife Pearl was not pregnant.

Cebu Daily News yesterday tried to reach Vice Mayor Ungab but he did not respond. In an earlier FB message he sent Saturday, he said he was staying silent for now to avoid further damage the issue may bring to all parties, especially to his five children.

Over the weekend, the vice mayor sent P200,000  cash to his wife in the event she needs to post bail.

Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas is expected to resolve today whether to elevate to court the complaint for frustrated murder as Mrs. Ungab had waived her right to a preliminary investigation.

SETTLEMENT
Tiu yesterday said Vice Mayor Ungab called her last Friday, requesting her to withdraw the charges she had filed.

“We talked over the phone after the incident. He asked about my condition and he later requested for a settlement. He said he would have my car fixed. But I told him, ‘Dili ko. Sobra na. Sorry (I won’t enter into a settlement. This has gone too far. I’m sorry).’”

Tiu said it wasn’t the first time Vice Mayor Ungab asked her to settle cases involving his wife.

She said Mrs. Ungab figured in conflicts in the past due to jealousy.  Tiu said she decided to keep quiet as requested by the vice mayor.

“I respect Atty. (John Ungab) very much. But now let me tell you: Attorney, badlonga ra gud na ang imong asawa. Ikaw ra man gyud ang makabadlong ana (Attorney, please admonish you wife. You’re the only one who can do that). She’s your wife and so you have a responsibility over her,” Tiu said.

“I know you got embarrassed over what happened. But who put you in that situation? It’s your wife. I know you have problems in your family. But please resolve it among yourselves,” she said.

STAY AWAY
The lawyer said Tiu will formally request the trial court to prohibit Vice Mayor Ungab and his family from approaching the female lawyer.

Fernandez said the Ungab family should issue a public apology for having caused Tiu severe damage to her reputation.

At the press conference, Tiu was accompanied by Fernandez, her sister, lawyer Alisha Tiu, another sibling and some friends.

Alisha said their family in Samar, particularly their parents, were very disturbed by the events.

Alisha said she was approached by Mrs. Ungab and admonished about the alleged illicit affair of her sister.

“She (Mrs. Ungab) actually brought me inside the comfort room just to talk about it. I asked her to provide any evidence but she could not present any. It’s not that I’m protecting my sister. I’m a lawyer and I know who to believe and who not to believe,” said Alisha.

She said Mrs. Ungab also went to her other sister’s house in Minglanilla last year.

“She was looking for my sister (Tiu). And she was saying, ‘Let her come down. If not, it’s a matter of life and death.’ She was making a scene there,” Alisha said.

“Pearl is simply paranoid. She is very violent. She is very jealous not only about my sister but also other people. All her accusations against my sister are baseless,” she added.

Of six siblings, Alisha and Tiu are lawyers. Their mother is a dentist while their father is an engineer. Their family hails from Samar.

Jiecel and her lawyer Rex Fernandez in a press conference show images of a CCTV camera that recorded part of the confrontation on the street with Pearl Ungab, whose Nissan Navara pickup, rammed the lawyer’s car. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

MONITORED
When she joined the law firm of Vice Mayor Ungab, Tiu said she noticed that his wife kept monitoring him and other women who came near him.

“It was just last year when I learned that I was already a suspect. Someone in that office was relaying rumors to her,” she said.

Tiu said Mrs. Ungab even accused her of receiving  the  red Toyota Vios sedan for free from the vice mayor.

“That is not the case. That car was not a gift from Atty. Ungab. I’m paying for my car,” she said.

In the middle of last year, Tiu said she was surprised when the vice mayor told her “You have to go” but she understood that he only wanted to pacify his wife.

“I joined another firm but Pearl continued to go after me. I can’t work properly because she kept monitoring me,” Tiu said.

Last Thursday, she said Mrs. Ungab sought her out in Centro Maximo Building in corner Ranudo and Jakosalem Streets. Tiu was about to leave the parking area when Mrs. Ungab  approached her and forced her to open the car window. Tiu denied firing pepper spray in her face or bumping the woman and her  two-year-old daughter. Tiu said she did not even see a child during the incident.

“I am not stupid to do that,” she said.

Tiu said out of fear she drover to Echavez Extension but Mrs. Ungab chased her in a Nissan Navarra picku and rammed her several times, before coming after her with a baseball bat.

“A Citom traffic enforcer came to trhe rescue and restrained Mrs. Ungab from further whacking me. Were it not for the said CITOM officer who took the baseball bat away from her, Mrs. Ungab would have inflicted more fatal wounds on me,” Tiu said.

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