THE Masbate Regional Trial Court has withdrawn the arrest warrant it earlier issued against the widow of Batuan, Masbate vice mayor, Charlie Yuson III, who was sued for libel by Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office director, Sandra Cam.
In a two-page decision issued last April 19, 2021, Honorable Judge Mary Flor T. Logarta, granted the urgent motion to lift warrant filed by Atty. Merito Lovensky Fernandez, counsel for Lalaine A. Yuson. The court also approved Yuson’s request for the reinstatement of her bail bond.
The court last April 7, 2021, was prompted to grant the request of Cam’s lawyers to have Yuson’s bail to be cancelled and an arrest warrant issued due to the repeated cancellation of the court hearings.
But in his motion, Fernandez averred the request for the resetting of the court hearings was not intentional as he contracted Covid-19 while his co-counsel in the case was also having a medical check-up in Cebu province.
Judge Logarta said she found merit on the reasons stated by Fernandez and granted his motions on “humanitarian” ground.
Cam sued Yuson for libel after the latter pointedly accused Cam of being behind the murder of her husband, Charlie, last October 9, 2019.
Charlie was having breakfast at an eatery in Sampaloc, Manila, when four armed men, on board a luxury van, arrived and peppered him with bullets. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital while his companion at the time also suffered serious wounds but managed to survive.
While still alive, Charlie had repeatedly told his wife that should he be killed, the only suspect would be Cam, their close political rival in Batuan.
Last April 16, 2021, the Department of Justice finally released a 21-page resolution recommending that murder and frustrated murder be filed against Cam, her son, Marco Martin, Baluan councilor Nelson Cambaya and the four gunmen who were arrested, by chance, by the Manila Police District, several minutes after the attack (Pinoy Exposé article, April 19, 2021).
The DOJ resolution was based on the investigation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at the request of the Yuson family who did not believe that they can get any justice from the Philippine National Police.
Pinoy Exposé also learned that the case against Cam and her confederates had already been raffled on April 19, 2021 and landed at the sala of Manila RTC Branch 42 trial judge, Hon. Dinah Topacio.