Vice mayor’s case gets complicated

VICE Mayor Jonah John Ungab and wife Pearl Photo grab from the Facebook of John Ungab

Vice Mayor Jonah John Ungab of Ronda, Cebu province, had always kept a low profile.

His colleagues in the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines (VMLP) in Cebu province knew him as a “family man” who always brought along his wife, Pearl, and their five children whenever he traveled.

Triathletes remember him as a dedicated athlete who had competed in several events.

Last week, Ungab’s seemingly quiet life turned into a media circus following a catfight between his wife and his alleged mistress, lawyer Jiecel Tiu.

JIECEL Tiu is accompanied by her lawyer, Rex Fernandez, in a news conference held Monday at her legal counsel’s law office on J. Llorente Street in Cebu City. PHOTOS BY JUNJIE MENDOZA/CDN

The scandal led to a skeleton in his closet—a pending complaint filed by a former student who accused him of sexual harassment in 2013 and fathering her 1-year-old son.

The former student, Claire (not her real name), now 27, has filed a complaint of violation of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 (Republic Act No. 7877) against Ungab, her law professor, in the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office in December 2014.

The vice mayor’s legal counsel, Leilani Villarino, said he chose to maintain his silence over the issues.

Neither was there a response when the Inquirer sent a message to him through his Facebook account though it was “seen” at 7:42 p.m on Wednesday.

Ungab comes from a political family in Ronda, 81 kilometers southwest of Cebu City. He was first elected municipal councilor in 2004 and served for two more terms.

In 2010, he was elected vice mayor under One Cebu-Lakas-Kampi-CMD, while an uncle, Mariano Blanco III, is the mayor. He later became president of VMLP in Central Visayas.

Vice Mayor Efren Gica of Dumanjug town, VMLP-Cebu president, said he knew Ungab as a “man who valued his family.”

“He is a very nice person. Whenever he goes on out-of-town trips, he is always with his family,” Gica said.

Ungab met Pearl while she was working in a hotel in uptown Cebu City two decades ago. They got married in the late 1990s and have five children, aged 17, 13, 9, 6 and 2. Pearl is seven weeks’ pregnant.

Though he was already married and had a son, and comes from a rich family, Ungab continued to work in a hotel and study law at Southwestern University. He graduated in 2000 and passed the bar exams the next year with a rating of 81.1 percent.

In 2002, he decided to teach law. He was also president of the family-owned Ultimate Visa Corp. and proprietor of All About Spice Catering. He and lawyer Rey Gealon founded a law firm which specializes on immigration, as well as criminal and civil cases.

Tiu was an associate in the law firm, but she claimed she quit in August last year after Pearl accused her of having an affair with her husband—an allegation that Tiu strongly denies.

CEBU City Prosecutor Liceria S. Lofranco-Rabillas discusses the case of lawyer Jiecel Tiu against Pearl Ungab which she downgraded from frustrated murder to slight physical injuries during a press conference Wednesday in her office at the old Palace of Justice building.

On Feb. 26, Pearl attacked Tiu with a baseball bat at the parking area of Centro Maximo Building on Ranudo and Jakosalem Streets in Cebu City. Tiu claimed that Pearl’s Navara pickup bumped her car, and that Pearl smashed the windows of her car and hit her with a baseball bat.

Pearl alleged that she hit Tiu’s car after the lawyer attacked her with pepper spray and bumped her and her 2-year-old daughter at the parking lot.

Ungab’s wife was arrested but was confined in the hospital due to threatened abortion.

Tiu filed a case of frustrated murder against Pearl, but the prosecutor’s office downgraded the charge to slight physical injuries, citing the absence of an intent to kill.

Pearl said she only wanted to talk to Tiu during a chance meeting on Feb. 26 upon learning about her husband’s affair, but was rebuffed by the lawyer. She maintained that she was not jealous and had already forgiven her husband.

Gica said the controversy involving Ungab was a “personal matter” and did not reflect his “dedication as a public servant.” With a report from Carmel Loise Matus