The war is not over yet.
Lawyer Jiecel Tiu has filed two more complaints against the wife of Ronda Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab for allegedly entering the family residence in Minglanilla town, south Cebu last February without their consent.
Jiecel and her two sisters also accused Pearl Ungab of threatening to kill them.
The charges for qualified trepass to dwelling and grave threats were filed last Monday with the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.
Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba said the two complaints will undergo mediation as required by a recent order from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“All cases which carry a penalty of less than six years of imprisonment shall undergo mediation,” she told CDN yesterday.
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Petralba said mediation is aimed at amicably settling disputes in order to reduce the number of cases filed in the trial court.
“But so far, most of the cases that underwent mediation before the prosecutors’ office failed (to reach a settlement),” she said. The parties usually press on to get a court hearing.
Cebu Daily News tried to reach Pearl yesterday for comment but she did not answer phone calls.
Jiecel, accompanied by her siblings lawyer Alisha Tiu and Venetia Tiu-Sumaylo, went to the Provincial Prosecutors’ Office at the old Palace of Justice in Cebu City last Monday to file the two complaints against Pearl.
They said Pearl went to their residence last Feb. 12 and berated them over accusations that Jiecel has an illicit relationship with her husband.
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Pearl allegedly scratched their car using an object with a sharp edge.The conflict between Pearl and Jiecel reached boiling point at a confrontation outside the lawyer’s office building last Feb. 26.
Pearl rammed her car, chased the vehicle and hit Jiecel with a baseball bat in barangay Cogon-Ramos in Cebu City.
Pearl was arrested by police but was immediately placed under hospital custody after she said she experienced “spotting” or light bleeding due to her seven-week pregnancy.
Jiecel filed charges of frustrated murder but the prosecutor downgraded the case to slight physical injuries.
The case is pending before Judge Grace Veloso-Fernandez of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 8./ WITH XAVIER UNIVERSITY INTERN PEARL THERESE S. ATON