Prosecutors drop Garcia, Saavedra exchange of suits

CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and whistle-blower Crisologo Saavedra both lost legal battles against each other.

The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the complaint for malicious prosecution the governor filed against Saavedra.

The prosecutor’s office also junked the libel suit Saavedra filed against her.

The three-man panel of prosecutors found no sufficient evidence against Garcia and Saavedra in their respective complaints.

Assistant City Prosecutors  Rhodna Alcala-Bacatan,  Aurora Penaflor and Maria Theresa Casiño in their resolution said the governor failed to prove there  was “malice or gross bad faith when he (Saavedra)  filed the complaint,”  against her with the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas.

They  also said the governor’s remarks against the whistle-blower don’t constitute an offense. Saavedra failed to prove that there was malice when the governor uttered statements against him.

In December 2010, Garcia sued  Saavedra  for  malicious   prosecution  in response to the latter’s filing of complaints against her over the purchase of the partly submerged Balili property in Naga City, south Cebu.

Saavedra, in turn, filed a libel case against Gov. Garcia over the alleged  malicious  statements uttered by the governor against him during a press conference.

He said he was humiliated when Garcia likened him to “a mad dog that attacks anyone.”

Cebu City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon created a three-man panel to conduct a preliminary investigation on charges filed by Garcia and Saavedra  against each other. /Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol