2003 complaint still hounding Royette Padilla

A brother of action star Robin Padilla is facing charges for allegedly threatening to shoot a man and lob a grenade at his house in February 2003 in Quezon City.

Nearly a decade after the incident, Assistant City Prosecutor Rafael Villordon found probable cause to file a case of grave threats against Roy “Royette” Cariño Padilla, a one-time actor with an address on Maple Street, West Fairview.

Padilla is a member of the famous clan whose members include show biz personalities like brother Robin and the transsexual BB Gandanghari (formerly Rustom Padilla).

No stranger to controversy, Royette made headlines in the 1990s when he claimed being a “brigadier general” in a group called H-World United Nations Philippine Military Government International Police Commission.

A two-page indictment concerning the 2003 complaint was received on Feb. 15 by the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court.

It stemmed from allegations that Padilla had threatened to harm Johnny Solevilla on Feb. 12, 2003, when the former went to Solevilla’s home in Barangay San Antonio at around 1 a.m. to see his daughter, Ivonne.

Villordon said Padilla’s alleged statement that he would lob a grenade and shoot Solevilla amounted to grave threats.

“Said threats amounted to a crime of arson and murder, and the threats were not subject to a condition,” the prosecutor said in a resolution dated Dec. 1, 2011. “Bail is not necessary unless required by the court.”

Padilla was actually the first to file a complaint against Solevilla for illegal discharge of firearms and oral defamation. He claimed hearing Solevilla cursing him and firing a gun as he was pressing the doorbell of the house, prompting him to report the matter to the police and the media.

Villordon dismissed the complaint against Solevilla for insufficiency of evidence.