Cebu Town Vice Mayor's Scandal

Lawyer Jiecel Tiu files a case of frustrated murder against Pearl Ungab, wife of Ronda town Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab, after she was allegedly attacked by Pearl with a baseball bat. Pearl has accused Tiu of having an affair with the vice mayor, which Tiu denied. 

Image courtesy of Christian Maningo/Cebu Daily News

Source: www.newsinfo.inquirer.net

The pregnant wife of Ronda town Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab is facing charges for attacking a female lawyer with a baseball bat for allegedly having an affair with her husband.

But Pearl Ungab, 41 and seven weeks pregnant, was placed under hospital arrest because of her condition.

Jiecel Tiu, 30, filed frustrated murder charges against Ungab at the prosecutor’s office on Friday for attacking her on Echavez Extension in Barangay Cogon Ramos, this city.

Tiu said she was inside her red Toyota Vios and about to leave the parking lot of Centro Maximo Building when Ungab arrived on board a black Nissan Navarra.

Ungab’s pickup truck blocked the exit area. After a few minutes, Ungab parked her car, prompting Tiu to drive her Toyota Vios out of the parking lot.

But Ungab went down from her vehicle, approached Tiu and banged her vehicle’s window with her fist.

“She tried to open the door. Since could not do it, she ran back to her Nissan Navarra and I proceeded to exit the parking area. But then Pearl chased my car and purposely smashed the passenger window at the back of my car. I got really scared and proceeded to leave the parking area,” Tiu said.

After a few minutes, Tiu said Ungab rammed her Nissan Navarra into her Toyota Vios several times.

Out of fear, Tiu said she stopped her car near the office of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) on Echavez Extension.

But Ungab went down her vehicle and smashed the driver’s window of Tiu’s car using a baseball bat.

“When the window got destroyed, she then opened the lock and hit me with the baseball bat,” Tiu said.

“I still have the seat belt on, so while sitting down, I decided to move my body and head to the left. But she still hit me with the baseball bat,” she said.

Tiu said a Citom officer arrived and took the baseball bat away from Ungab.

She said Ungab tried to escape but was stopped by people in the area. Tiu had bruises on her left shoulder and a wound behind her left ear.

Tiu was brought to a hospital and released after her wounds were treated.

Tiu denied having an illicit affair with Ungab’s husband, although she 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.

“Is this the first time she (Pearl) attacked me? No. Am I her first victim? No,” said Tiu.

“Even before this happened, she already threatened me a number of times,” she said.

Tiu said she left the vice mayor’s law office because “his wife kept on following me.”

“She has been fabricating stories and evidence against me.” said Tiu.

Cebu town vice mayor’s wife speaks up on scandal

Source: www.newsinfo.inquirer.net

The legal wife has spoken.

Three days after her controversial face off with a female lawyer who reportedly has an illicit affair with her husband, Mrs. Pearl Ungab Monday decided to break her silence to shed light on the incident.

“Those who saw the actual confrontation between me and Atty. (Jiecel) Tiu will think I was the villain based on how I reacted. But what they did not see was the incident (minutes) before that,” she told INQUIRER in an interview at her hospital bed Monday afternoon.

Mrs. Ungab, who is 7 weeks pregnant, was placed under hospital arrest since last Thursday evening after she purportedly went after 30-year-old lawyer Jiecel Tiu with a baseball bat after suspecting that she was having an extra-marital affair with her husband.

The 41-year-old wife of Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab of Ronda town, southwest Cebu not Cebu City as reported earlier, admitted having smashed with a baseball bat the glass window of Tiu’s Toyota Vios sedan.

But she denied hitting the lawyer with a baseball bat.

Mrs. Ungab said she went after Tiu not because of jealousy but out of anger after the female lawyer fired pepper spray on her face as well as bumped her and her 2-year-old daughter with the sedan.

“What would be your reaction if your son was purposely bumped by a vehicle? Would you just smile? It’s a mother’s instinct to protect her child. We were supposed to be victims in this case. How come, I’m the one being detained now?” she asked while wiping off her tears.

Mrs. Ungab said she already communicated with her husband through phone and that the latter promised to provide her with the best lawyer.

Vice Mayor Ungab, a lawyer by profession, also sent P200,000 in cash to his wife to pay for her bail bond.

Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas is expected to release a resolution Wednesday on complaint for frustrated murder filed by Tiu against Mrs. Ungab.

Since Mrs. Ungab waived her right to a preliminary investigation, the charges against her are set to be elevated to the court. The prosecutor, however, has yet to determine whether or not to downgrade the charge to physical injuries.

“He (Vice Mayor Ungab) told me that he will give me the best lawyer. And I think he will be the one who shall defend me because as far as I know, my husband is the best lawyer in town,” Mrs. Ungab said.

Asked if she has already forgiven her husband, she said “Yes, I love my husband so much. There’s no problem with that.”

“The problem is this Atty. (Jiecel) Tiu. She destroyed our family and put us all to shame. As much as possible, I don’t want to drag my husband in this issue but Atty. Tiu just humiliated him,” she added.

The couple has five children aged 17, 13, 9, 6, and 3. Mrs. Ungab is currently pregnant with their sixth child.

Countercharges

Mrs. Ungab is contemplating filing countercharges against Tiu as well as seeking her disbarment.

Her family also intends to seek the assistance of the Cebu Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC) to assist her in the case.

“She (Tiu) is my kumare because she’s one of my child’s godmother. But look at what she did.” she said.

Mrs. Ungab Monday granted INQUIRER an interview after she was prodded by one of her lawyers to reveal the whole truth about the incident.

During the interview, she showed the bruises on her left stomach which she allegedly sustained after Tiu bumped her. Her eyes has also been treated after it got hit by the pepper spray.

Mrs. Ungab’s condition as well that of her off spring have been monitored by physicians.

Her parents are currently in the United States.

Accompanying her at the hospital Monday were her brother-in-law Jonald Ungab, mother-in-law Dr. Alma Ungab, father-in-law Dr. Eugenio Ungab, her five children, nieces, and nephews.

‘Coincidental’ 

Past 5 p.m. last Thursday, Mrs. Ungab said she was driving a black Nissan Navarra on her way to fetch her children in a school in Cebu City when she dropped by Centro Maximo Building along D. Jakosalem Street to meet a friend when she saw Tiu.

Mrs. Ungab was accompanied by her 2-year-old daughter, a nanny, and a househelper.

“Our meeting (with Tiu) was actually coincidental,” she said.

Mrs. Ungab said she wanted to “peacefully” talk to Tiu who was rumored to have an affair with her husband.

“When I saw her (Tiu), I called her and asked if we could talk for a while. But she declined. She told me ‘there’s nothing we ought to talk about. What for? Your family is already ruined’,” the wife said.

Mrs. Ungab said Tiu berated and insulted her, prompting her to confront the female lawyer. She said Tiu suddenly took a pepper spray and fired it on her face.

“It was so painful so I decided to run away from her (Tiu). While moving away from her, she moved her vehicle backwards, hitting me and my 2-year-old daughter who waited for me outside,” she said.

Tiu, she said, immediately fled with her car.

Furious with what happened, Mrs. Ungab said she went after Tiu until she found the lawyer’s vehicle along Echavez Extension in barangay Cogon Ramos, Cebu City.

“I got off from my vehicle and approached Tiu. But she again sprayed pepper on my face. I told myself I could not take it anymore. I went back to my car and our househelp handed over to me the baseball bat. I decided to use it since I didn’t have anything to defend myself with that time,” she said.

“I was so mad that I smashed the left passenger window of her (Tiu) vehicle. I never hit her. I do not know how she sustained the bruises she showed you,” she added.

Mrs. Ungab said Tiu got off her vehicle and grabbed the bag which the wife’s house help brought.

“She even accused me of bringing a gun,” she said.

If she had any intention of killing Tiu, Mrs. Ungab said she would not have brought her daughter with her.

Paradox

Mrs. Ungab said she decided to report the incident to the Fuente Police Station while her mother-in-law brought her daughter to the hospital for treatment after the latter was bumped by Tiu’s vehicle.

She stayed at the police station before Tiu and two other lawyers arrived.

“I was surprised because the police entertained their complaint ahead of mine. Worst, I was put behind bars based on their complaint against me,” Mrs. Ungab said.

She said she was physically harassed at the police station as PO3 Cliffton Manogura, the desk officer, allegedly put her to the detention cell by force.

Manogura allegedly told her that it was the order of Police Station 2 Chief Wildemar Tiu to put her in prison.

“This Manogura told me ‘we have to detain you because it’s our chief’s order. Our chief doesn’t choose anyone, even if its a lady, he will punch,” Mrs, Tiu said.

“I got so afraid that I went straight to the detention cell. I felt so weak. Imagine, I might get punched if I don’t go inside the jail. I felt so betrayed. I went to the police station to lodge a complaint but I ended in jail,” she added.

Mrs. Ungab said it also took about two hours before he was brought to the hospital for medical examination—a protocol once a person gets detained.

The physician who checked on Mrs. Ungab recommended that she be placed under hospital confinement after she was spotting with traces of blood from her pregnancy.

“She (Tiu) was saying that I attacked her out of jealousy. What should I be jealous for? What happened last Thursday had nothing to do with jealousy. It was about a mother trying to protect her two-year-old child and the child within her,” she said.

Mrs. Ungab declined to elaborate on her husband’s controversy, saying she wanted to focus on her case.

Just friends

In an interview last Friday, Tiu denied having an illicit affair with Ungab. She said she used to work at the Ungab Gealon and Associates for four years before she decided to voluntarily leave just to pacify Ungab’s wife Pearl.

“I belong to the same law firm with Atty. John Ungab since 2011 but I decided to leave last year because his wife kept on following me. She has been fabricating stories and evidence against me although she never caught me having an affair with her husband because that is really not the case,” she said.

Asked if she had an extra-marital affair with Ungab, Tiu said “never.”

In a comment Vice Mayor Ungab sent to INQUIRER, he said “As much as possible, I want to hold my silence to protect further damage this issue may bring to all parties especially to my children.”

Vice Mayor Ungab’s elder brother Jonald advised his brother to stay away from Tiu.

“If indeed they really have a relationship, I believe my brother was tempted by this Atty. Tiu. We were trying to protect the image of my brother but what did Atty. Tiu do? She didn’t even care protecting my brother,” he said.

“We don’t believe that Mrs. Ungab attacked Atty. Tiu out of jealousy. If that’s the case, we, her in laws, should not have been on her side,” he added.

Victim of bat attack plans to file more charges, denies she’s a mistress

Lawyer Jiecel Tiu, with a shoulder bruise from Thursday’s attack, says she won’t settle out of court: “Sorry, sobra na”. 

Image courtesy of CDN Photo/ Junjie Mendoza

Source: www.cebudailynews.inquirer.net

‘CLEAR MY NAME’

The lady lawyer who filed frustrated murder charges after being attacked with a baseball bat by an angry wife yesterday appealed to the  husband to clear her name.

“Dili ko kabit. (I am not a paramour),” said 30-year-old lawyer Jiecel Tiu, who lamented that she was falsely accused of having an affair with Ronda Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab.

In a press conference, the single lawyer came out to answer in detail the accusations of the official’s wife Pearl, who said the lady lawyer had wrecked their family by having an illicit relationship with her husband.

Tiu said the vice mayor called her up after Thursday’s violent encounter to ask her to settle the criminal case out of court, but she told him no: “Sobra na, sorry.”

“I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost everything except for my life that I’m trying to protect now,” she said in a press conference in her sister’s law office at the K and J Building in Cebu City.

“And so I appeal to Atty. (John Ungab), once and for all, to please make a stand. You know me very well. I’ve been so loyal to you as an associate lawyer. If you still consider me your friend and once your associate, please make a public statement. That’s all I’m asking of you,” she added.

Tiu had another request: Resolve your domestic problems with your wife and keep me out of it.

Tiu had worked at the Ungab, Gealon and Associates for four years before leaving last year to avoid alleged harassment by Mrs. Ungab  over rumors that she and Ungab were having an affair.

Last Thursday’s confrontation took place in a parking lot followed by a car chase along a Cebu City street.

Tiu’s sedan was rear-ended by the Nissan Navaro pickup truck driven by Mrs. Ungab, who then disembarked from her vehicle and smashed the car’s window with a 30-inch baseball bat before allegedly hitting the woman. The lady lawyer sustained bruises on her left shoulder, left ear and knees.

Mrs. Ungab in an interview with Cebu Daily News on Sunday said she was just retaliating because the lawyer earlier fired pepper spray  at her face during the encounter, then backed up  her car hitting Mrs. Ungab and her two-year-old daughter.

The angry wife justified her baseball bat attack saying her action “had nothing to do with jealousy” and that she acted as a mother  protecting her young daughter and unborn child since she was seven weeks pregnant.

REALLY PREGNANT?

Yesterday, that claim of pregnancy came under question.

Tiu’s lawyer Rex Fernandez said they are set to file additional charges against Mrs. Ungab for damage to property, qualified trespassing, oral defamation, libel  and civil damages.

They also plan to  file a complaint for obstruction of justice against officers of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

The accused wife was taken to the hospital after a brief stay in the Fuente police station jail, after she complained of “spotting” or bleeding due to her pregnancy.

“Mrs. Ungab was claiming to be sick and pregnant. Can they show a medical certificate to prove it? They have been refusing to submit to procedures by the police, and some officers of the hospital have been conniving with them,” Fernandez said.

He said they learned that Vice Mayor Ungab’s parents were connected with the government hospital.    The wife was examined by a doctor as part of standard police procedure but it was not clear which doctor certified her pregnancy or the need for her confinement.

Fernandez said Vice Mayor Ungab had categorically told Tiu’s family that his wife Pearl was not pregnant.

Cebu Daily News yesterday tried to reach Vice Mayor Ungab but he did not respond. In an earlier FB message he sent Saturday, he said he was staying silent for now to avoid further damage the issue may bring to all parties, especially to his five children.

Over the weekend, the vice mayor sent P200,000  cash to his wife in the event she needs to post bail.

Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas is expected to resolve today whether to elevate to court the complaint for frustrated murder as Mrs. Ungab had waived her right to a preliminary investigation.

SETTLEMENT

Tiu yesterday said Vice Mayor Ungab called her last Friday, requesting her to withdraw the charges she had filed.

“We talked over the phone after the incident. He asked about my condition and he later requested for a settlement. He said he would have my car fixed. But I told him, ‘Dili ko. Sobra na. Sorry (I won’t enter into a settlement. This has gone too far. I’m sorry).’”

Tiu said it wasn’t the first time Vice Mayor Ungab asked her to settle cases involving his wife.

She said Mrs. Ungab figured in conflicts in the past due to jealousy.  Tiu said she decided to keep quiet as requested by the vice mayor.

“I respect Atty. (John Ungab) very much. But now let me tell you: Attorney, badlonga ra gud na ang imong asawa. Ikaw ra man gyud ang makabadlong ana (Attorney, please admonish you wife. You’re the only one who can do that). She’s your wife and so you have a responsibility over her,” Tiu said.

“I know you got embarrassed over what happened. But who put you in that situation? It’s your wife. I know you have problems in your family. But please resolve it among yourselves,” she said.

STAY AWAY

The lawyer said Tiu will formally request the trial court to prohibit Vice Mayor Ungab and his family from approaching the female lawyer.

Fernandez said the Ungab family should issue a public apology for having caused Tiu severe damage to her reputation.

At the press conference, Tiu was accompanied by Fernandez, her sister, lawyer Alisha Tiu, another sibling and some friends.

Alisha said their family in Samar, particularly their parents, were very disturbed by the events.

Alisha said she was approached by Mrs. Ungab and admonished about the alleged illicit affair of her sister.

“She (Mrs. Ungab) actually brought me inside the comfort room just to talk about it. I asked her to provide any evidence but she could not present any. It’s not that I’m protecting my sister. I’m a lawyer and I know who to believe and who not to believe,” said Alisha.

She said Mrs. Ungab also went to her other sister’s house in Minglanilla last year.

“She was looking for my sister (Tiu). And she was saying, ‘Let her come down. If not, it’s a matter of life and death.’ She was making a scene there,” Alisha said.

“Pearl is simply paranoid. She is very violent. She is very jealous not only about my sister but also other people. All her accusations against my sister are baseless,” she added.

Of six siblings, Alisha and Tiu are lawyers. Their mother is a dentist while their father is an engineer. Their family hails from Samar.

Jiecel and her lawyer Rex Fernandez in a press conference show images of a CCTV camera that recorded part of the confrontation on the street with Pearl Ungab, whose Nissan Navara pickup, rammed the lawyer’s car. 

Image courtesy of CDN Photo/ Junjie Mendoza 

MONITORED

When she joined the law firm of Vice Mayor Ungab, Tiu said she noticed that his wife kept monitoring him and other women who came near him.

“It was just last year when I learned that I was already a suspect. Someone in that office was relaying rumors to her,” she said.

Tiu said Mrs. Ungab even accused her of receiving  the  red Toyota Vios sedan for free from the vice mayor.

“That is not the case. That car was not a gift from Atty. Ungab. I’m paying for my car,” she said.

In the middle of last year, Tiu said she was surprised when the vice mayor told her “You have to go” but she understood that he only wanted to pacify his wife.

“I joined another firm but Pearl continued to go after me. I can’t work properly because she kept monitoring me,” Tiu said.

Last Thursday, she said Mrs. Ungab sought her out in Centro Maximo Building in corner Ranudo and Jakosalem Streets. Tiu was about to leave the parking area when Mrs. Ungab  approached her and forced her to open the car window. Tiu denied firing pepper spray in her face or bumping the woman and her  two-year-old daughter. Tiu said she did not even see a child during the incident.

“I am not stupid to do that,” she said.

Tiu said out of fear she drover to Echavez Extension but Mrs. Ungab chased her in a Nissan Navarra picku and rammed her several times, before coming after her with a baseball bat.

“A Citom traffic enforcer came to trhe rescue and restrained Mrs. Ungab from further whacking me. Were it not for the said CITOM officer who took the baseball bat away from her, Mrs. Ungab would have inflicted more fatal wounds on me,” Tiu said.