Fitness expert Marie Roxanne "Plinky" Recto said she filed a criminal complaint for acts of lasciviousness before the Bago City Prosecutor's Office yesterday against her former live-in partner from Negros Occidental, who is an influential lawyer.

She said the incident happened on Jan. 18, 2006 while she was attending the hearing of the civil case her former boyfriend filed against her before the Bago City Regional Trial Court for damages and custody of their 17-month-old son.

"I was holding my son and I had my back to my former boyfriend when he started kissing my neck and his left hand touched my left breast in court prompting me to kick him so he would release me, and he has the gall to charge me with slight physical injuries and direct assault," she said.

Recto's arraignment yesterday for the slight physical injuries case filed by her former boyfriend had been cancelled by Judge Hermiginildo Octaviano of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Bago City, her lawyer Rowena Guanzon said. "The court shall take no further action and suspends proceeding of the…case, pending resolution of the accused petition to transfer venue before the Supreme Court," Octaviano said in his order canceling the arraignment.

Guanzon said Recto is asking the SC that all cases against her in Bago City be transferred to Bacolod City because Bago is the territory of her former live-in partner and she feels intimidated there.

The former boyfriend, in his complaint against Recto for slight physical injuries, said he was ordered by the judge to bring their son to court. While Recto was cuddling their son, he said he was standing directly behind her when she unexpectedly back-kicked him hitting his left shin with her square heeled leather boot.

He said the case she filed against him for acts of lasciviousness "was just a counter charge and an afterthought. I did not kiss her neck and hold her breast but if she wants me to I'll do it."

He also warned that he will file perjury charges against Recto's witnesses because the court employees saw that he did not kiss her neck or touch her breast.

Recto has a pending petition for a permanent protection order under the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004 against her former boyfriend before the Regional Trial Court of Mandaluyong.

She claims he beat her up and he says it was she who attacked him and he merely restrained her.

'I MISS MY BABY'

Recto was in Negros yesterday to visit her son whom she said she misses him very much.

She was able to play with her son at the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Bago City at noon and later in the afternoon at the Business Inn in Bacolod City, her former boyfriend said.

He told Recto she could come back anytime to visit their son, he said.

Recto's former boyfriend had gained custody of their son early this year by virtue of a temporary protection order granted him by Bago RTC Judge Henry Trocino. Recto has filed an administrative case against the judge for alleged bias in favor of her former boyfriend. The judge has since inhibited himself from hearing the custody case filed by the former boyfriend.

The first two weeks after her son was taken, Recto said, she did not have his room cleaned because the smell of the baby would disappear. I still go to his room everyday like he is still there, she said.

At first Recto said she had so much hope she would get her baby back immediately but after two weeks she saw that the judicial system moves very slowly.

"I work harder so I don't have to think so much about missing my baby. There are no words to describe how a mother feels about losing a child," she said.

"I miss my child because I think he is the cutest thing on earth," she said.

"Voldemort cannot raise my son, you have to nurture a child and give him good values," she said.

Voldemort is the fictional arch-villain of the Harry Potter series feared in the Wizarding world and is only referred to as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named".

Recto's former boyfriend has warned that the SC rule on violence against women and children states that whoever publishes the name of the parties involved without their consent will be liable for contempt of court and suffer the penalty of one year imprisonment and a fine of not more than P500,000.

Recto said she does not know if there is such a thing as getting used to the pain of not having her son with her but she is more calm now because she has a circle of friends around her, she said. There are days you feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel, she said.

JUDGE RAPS

On the filing of counter charges against her by Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court judge Adelaida Crisostomo-Reyes that included her lawyers Viriato Dupaya, Gauttier Dupaya and Rowena Vilwayco before the Supreme Court, Recto said that is her right to do so but the fact that she caught her former boyfriend in the office of the judge is a questionable act.

Recto had filed an administrative complaint against Reyes for alleged bias in favor of the judge.

Most of the things the judge did in court went against the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004, Recto also said.

Recto also denied the allegation that her brother Senator Ralph Recto tried to influence Reyes, saying he was not even in the country during the trial as he had gone to Italy and the United States.

"It's very disappointing that a judge could rule that way because she is a woman, a mother," she said.

NUMEROUS CASES

The battle for the custody of their 15-month-old son has resulted in about 13 inter-related cases filed by Recto and her former boyfriend against each other and other people.

The former boyfriend said he is filing more cases against Recto.

"He warned me about it, that was his style with the late banker Ted Borlongan, and Gen, Raymundo Jarque," she said.

"No matter what pressure he puts on me, I will not back down," she said.

"Despite the pressure I will add more cases against him, I may not be a lawyer but I'm a Recto," she said.*CPG

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