Cebu Daily News senior reporter Ador Mayol checks out the Ford Ranger co-owned by Greco Sanchez and Asst. Prosecutor Mary Ann Santos. How did it get there? (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
After a month-long disappearance, the brand new Ford Ranger WildTrak of Leodegreco “Greco” Sanchez has resurfaced.
The vehicle, sporting a new coat of white paint over its original black body, was found unattended along East Capitol Road, a few meters from the BPI Family Bank in Escario Street, Cebu City.
The SUV is at the center of conflicting claims of carnapping and a marital split between Sanchez and his wife of four months, Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro.
Sanchez said a security guard told him that a man drove the vehicle and left it there on Wednesday.
“Someone texted me that the WildTrak was parked near BPI Escario last Wednesday evening. We didn’t touch it for the time being but a security guard near the area told me they saw Fiscal Castro when the vehicle was brought there,” Greco told CDN.
Castro, he said, reportedly drove her Toyota Fortuner while observing how the WildTrak was parked.
Last month, Sanchez complained that someone drove off with his SUV after he parked it in the Capitol compound. His estranged wife Castro claimed that she had reported it missing weeks earlier and blamed her sister-in-law Provincial Board Member Gigi Sanchez of fabricating the story of a second carnapping.
“In all honesty, I didn’t hide that vehicle. My family is not like that,” Greco said..He said he’s no longer interested in recovering the vehicle, which the couple had nicknamed “Corleone” after the Godfather movie. The car is considered conjugal property of both spouses.
“I don’t like its new color. In fact, its wheels were also altered,” Sanchez said.
He identified the vehicle through an emblem that he had personally placed in front.
Prosecutor Castro, in a separate interview, said she asked someone to bring the vehicle to BPI Escario Branch after Sanchez’s lawyer John Ungab informed her to claim the vehicle outside the mosque in barangay Mambaling, Cebu Cityt last Nov. 21.
“Someone called Atty. Ungab and told me to get the WildTrak outside the mosque. I assumed that the vehicle came from Greco,” she said.
Since the vehicle is still under bank mortgage in Castro’s name, Castro said she immediately turned over the vehicle to the BPI Escario Branch.
She also informed the Highway Patrol Group that her vehicle was already found.
“Everything was documented from the time I found the vehicle. I immediately executed an affidavit that would narrate everything that had happened,” Castro said.
The Official Receipt and Certificate of Registration of the vehicle were turned over to the bank.
She said Sanchez was furious when he learned that she deposited the Ford Ranger with the BPI.
“But I don’t want to take chances. What if the vehicle was used in illegitimate activities? It would be better for him to turn it over to the bank,” she said. Castro said she believes that the vehicle was just kept by Sanchez from the time it was deemed missing.
“Just consider how Greco changed his hair color from black to yellow. Didn’t he also change the color of the WildTrak from black to white?,” she said.
Castro and Sanchez got married in a Muslim ceremony last Aug. 18, a day after Greco was released from drug rehabilitation and treatment.
Greco said he converted to Islam so he and Castro could wed. The two parted ways last October./ Ador Vincent Mayol