Cebu City Asst. Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro and Leodegredo Sanchez at a reception after their Muslim wedding. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
“Please don’t judge us.”
Cebu City Asst. Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro made this appeal to the public after she and Leodegreco “Greco” Sanchez decided to marry in a Muslim ceremony last Feb. 18.
“Despite his failures, I see something in him. The Lord touched my heart and I want to give him a chance,” she told Cebu Daily News yesterday.
Greco, son of the late Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr., and the prosecutor were wed by a Muslim imam at Harold’s Hotel in Cebu City last Aug. 18, a day after Greco was released from a government drug rehabilitation and treatment center.
Castro, who previously gave updates to the media about Greco’s court case, was tight-lipped about their relationship until after the private wedding.
Private affair
Castro said Greco had been courting her for years and that she agreed to be his “lifetime partner” only last March 2015.
“This is a private affair. Please give us a chance to be together,” she said.
Greco reportedly converted to Islam so he and Castro could marry although details of how and when this happened were not clear.
His first marriage has not been annulled, raising questions in some quarters about the validity of the present union.
Castro’s own marriage was annulled last year.
Supportive
Castro said she used to prepare legal documents of the late vice governor Sanchez, who supposedly urged her to court Greco.
In marrying Greco, Castro said she got the blessing of her two children aged 21 and 18, and her parents.
“They are very supportive. In fact, they were present during our wedding,” she said.
Greco’s sister, Cebu Provincial Board (PB) Member Grecilda Sanchez-Zaballero didn’t attend but sent her a text message to congratulate them after the wedding.
Vulnerable
Asked what are their plans, Castro said, “For now, we’re still in the honeymoon stage.”
“We’re aiming for triplets. We want to have heirs,” she said laughing.
But how well do Castro and Greco Sanchez know each other?
His sister Gigi, told CDN she was shocked to learn about the wedding and was only informed about it in a text message from her brother.
“The wedding is a very typical example of my brother’s vulnerability,” Zaballero said.
“He is very vulnerable to those people who would promise him anything. He was just recently released from rehab about three days ago, and here we are with him marrying a person, I could not even attest if they know each other,” said the PB member, the eldest of three Sanchez siblings.
Responsible
Zaballero said she hopes her brother’s decision to marry Castro will be for the good of everyone.
“However, both of them (Castro and Greco) are two consenting adults and they are assumed to be responsible for their decisions. I certainly pray that the people he is with now will be instrumental in his road to recovery,” she said.
READ: Greco freed after 22 months in rehab | Greco wants new life outside rehab center
Zaballero said she would continue to take care of Greco’s four children aged 22, 15, 4 and 2.
“I love my brother and I only hope that he will get his life back. As a family, we will wait for him to recover and we will do everything to help him. I would like to appeal to the public for prayers especially in these difficult moments,” she said.
Greco was committed to the New Horizon Treatment and Rehabilitation Center on October 10, 2013 by the Dangerous Drugs Board, a move supported by his sister.
Zaballero said Greco had undergone rehabilitation 18 times in the past to treat his excessive drug abuse which started when he was a teenager.
The drug dependence had caused years of turmoil in the family, she said, while her father was still alive and after his death, when Greco would pressure his mother and sister to give him money to spend on his vice.
On Feb 13, 2015, Greco, through his counsel, filed a motion to be discharged from confinement, saying he wanted to start life anew. The court, citing a two-year limit for voluntary committment in a drug rehab center, granted his plea.