Greco loses SUV parked inside Capitol compound

Admits falling out with wife Mary Ann Castro

The brand new sports utility vehicle (SUV) of Greco Sanchez, son of the late vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr., was stolen inside the Capitol compound at noon yesterday.

He was inside the legislative building having a meeting with his elder sister Provincial Board Member Grecilda Sanchez and younger sister Gerlaida Spiller, when someone drove off with his black Ford Ranger WildTrak.

Greco Sanchez shows a photo of his wife, Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro, wearing a Rolex watch worth P1 million which he inherited from his late father, former vice governor Greg Sanchez, and a photo of his new Ford Ranger with Castro behind the wheels. The vehicle was stolen while parked inside the Capitol compound yesterday. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

The siblings were finalizing their 1,000-sq. m. lot donation to the provincial government to house the extension of a center for children in conflict with the law in Consolacion town.

“I was eating and we were discussing. When I came back, it was gone,” he told reporters in a press conference yesterday afternoon. The press conference was held at the office of his sister Grecilda.

It was the first time Greco readily appeared before the media after he was released from a drug rehabilitation center in August.

As of yesterday’s conference, Greco still has not reported the incident to the police to have it reflected in the blotter but said they have already given high-ranking police officials a heads-up.

The car, still without a plate number, was parked just outside the building. The vehicle only had a conduction sticker with number 0261.

Greco said his wife, Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro, has a duplicate key. Asked whether he thinks it was his wife who took the car, he said that it was impossible.

“If it was her, then she could have just told me she would take it,” said Greco. Castro and Greco got married on Aug. 18 this year.

Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro-Sanchez shows another photo of a different suspect who allegedly took the Ford Wildtruck pickup. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

But he revealed they had a serious falling out sometime in September and they are no longer living together. Greco said he left because he couldn’t take how Castro was treating him. He said the prosecutor would shout at him, use expletives, and send his children inappropriate text messages.

“I was never used to being shouted at at home,” said Greco. Greco also produced copies of a blotter report of a lost Rolex watch that cost more than P1 million, an heirloom of his late father.

He said he lost it when he was still living with Castro, who allegedly admitted having it in her possession at present.
Greco said he tried to contact Castro so he can get the watch back but Castro would insist on having a talk with him first.

“It’s as if she’s holding hostage my prized possessions so that we can meet and talk,” he said, adding that he wasn’t ready to come face to face with Castro yet.

Greco and Castro jointly acquired the SUV worth P1.62 million on Sept. 1 and they named it Corleone—a fictional character in Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather.

Castro was surprised at Greco’s revelations during the press conference.

“How can that be? I’ve been looking for that vehicle since Oct. 15. In fact, all police stations in Cebu City were notified about it. All along it was just with him?” said Castro in an interview at her office.

The prosecutor said the vehicle was stolen by two persons while it was in a car wash station in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City last Oct. 13.

She had filed carnapping charges before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office against a certain Maricel Gregory and an unidentified man who, based on the testimony of a carwash boy, claimed ownership of the vehicle and took it away.

Castro said she is paying for the vehicle by installment.

She added Greco couldn’t secure a driver’s license due to a complaint filed against him before the Land Transportation Office in Benguet.

Yesterday’s alleged carnapping incident bolstered Castro’s belief that the vehicle was taken by Grecilda.
Last Oct. 15, Castro said Greco sent her a text message telling her to get the car from Grecilda.

The prosecutor showed reporters Greco’s text message, claiming that the vehicle was with his elder sister.

“Greco’s claim that the vehicle was carnapped is nothing but scripted,” she said.

Castro said she will implead Grecilda as a respondent in the carnapping case pending before the prosecutors’ office.

“She (Grecilda) wants publicity? I’m giving her bad publicity for free,” the feisty prosecutor said.

Castro will also file today six counts of libel and a violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cyber crime Prevention Act of 2012 against the PB member for defamatory text messages allegedly sent to her.

“I’m always ready to sue the pants off of anyone who crosses my path or looks at me the wrong way,” she said.

Castro, 46, and Greco, 41, got married in a Muslim ceremony at Harolds Hotel in Cebu City last Aug. 18, a day after the former was released from drug rehabilitation and treatment.

Greco reportedly converted to Islam so he and Castro could marry. Greco’s first marriage hasn’t been annulled yet.

Castro’s marriage, on the other hand, was annulled in 2014.