Mediation fails, full-blown trial set to start

TIU

The wife of Ronda town Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab and a lady lawyer are set to face off in a full-blown trial for the charge of slight physical injuries after the mediation proceedings between the two parties failed.

Lawyer Jiecel Tiu refused to settle the case since Vice Mayor Ungab’s wife, Pearl, allegedly resorted to filing “malicious and fabricated” charges against her.

“I am no longer interested in continuing with the mediation proceedings on ground (sic) that the accused is resorting to malicious scheme in order to frustrate the success of this proceedings,” read Tiu’s manifestation prepared by her lawyer Rex Fernandez.

In her manifestation, Tiu said the filing of the complaint against her was to “gain leverage against me because the counter-affidavit of the accused was expunged from records for being filed out of time.”

PEARL UNGAB

“I believe that there can be no successful mediation if one of the parties is cunning, dishonest and making a mockery of this noble mediation proceedings,” said Tiu.

With the failure of the mediation proceeding, pre-trial conference of the case is set for August 17.

Tiu filed a complaint for frustrated murder against Pearl, but Cebu City Prosecutor Liceria Rabillas downgraded the case to slight physical injuries. Rabillas said that had Pearl intended to kill Tiu, she could have used a gun or another weapon.

The case of slight physical injuries stemmed from a February 26, 2015 incident wherein Pearl allegedly rammed the car of Tiu and hit the lady lawyer with a baseball bat at the parking area of Centro Maximo Building on Ranudo and Jakosalem Streets in Cebu City.

Tiu, who worked at the Ungab Gealon and Associates, a law firm of Vice Mayor Ungab, for four years until she decided to leave because of alleged harassment by the vice mayor’s wife, earlier denied Pearl’s accusation that she was having an illicit relationship with the vice mayor.

During her arraignment, Pearl pleaded not guilty to slight physical injuries before Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Judge Grace Fernandez, who then referred the case to the Philippine Mediation Center to give them a chance to amicably settle the matter.