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THE Regional State Prosecutor is keeping his hands off the feud between two of his subordinates.
“They are still performing their duties. I will only step in when their work is prejudiced,” said Fernando Gubalane.
Gubalane said he is monitoring the conflict between Assistant Regional State Prosecutor Vicente Mañalac III and Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba.
He said the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have already started investigating the matter.
Mañalac earlier filed a complaint against Petralba with the Visayas Ombudsman for alleged “insubordination, defiance, malicious mischief, unjust vexation” for forcing him to vacate his office cubicle.
Petralba, who ordered the ceiling fan removed from over his cubicle, said the office space was needed for two new prosecutors.
She questioned why he was clinging to the cubicle.
Petralba has asked the DOJ to investigate Mañalac based on reports that he conducts “illegal transactions” in the office cubicle, issuing subpoenas and summons to debtors of a money-lending company even though no cases are filed in court.
Gubalane said he could not bar the two prosecutors from exchanging tirades.
“Anyway, both of them are lawyers,” Gubalane said.
Other than filing a complaint against Petralba, Mañalac distributed leaflets accusing Petralba of “professional jealousy.”
Last Wednesday, he circulated a two-page letter in all offices at the Palace of Justice.
He called the letters his own “newspaper,” to air his side.
On Thursday, he also posted notices on the walls of the Palace of Justice challenging Petralba to a debate, to be witnessed by prosecutors, judges, and lawyers.
