Actress' charges vs senator's wife dismissed

The Quezon City prosecutor’s office dismissed Tuesday charges that stemmed from a 1982 incident, filed by actress and former beauty queen Melanie Marquez against the wife of Senator Lito Lapid. Assistant City Prosecutor Pedro Tresvalles ruled that there was no probable cause in Marquez’ charges of theft and malicious mischief against Lapid’s wife, Marissa. Marquez complained that in 1982, she found her parked car with all four tires punctured and a bag containing P50,000 in cash that she left in the car also missing. Marquez, who was also once married to Senator Lapid, filed the case after she learned from a showbiz talk show interview of Mrs. Lapid on Oct. 3, 2004 that the latter stole her bag and deflated the tires of her vehicle. In her counter-affidavit, Lapid denied the allegations, saying that the cases were filed as leverage against a libel case she filed against Marquez before the Pampanga prosecutor’s office. Lapid also noted that by the time the complaint was made, the incident had taken place 21 years earlier. In his resolution, Tresvalles explained that it took the complainant 21 years to file the cases, which are already prescribed pursuant to Article 91 of the Revised Penal Code. “Applying the said provision of the law, it is crystal clear that the actions of the complainant against respondent have already prescribed. Prescription of the offense has set in when complainant discovered that her vehicle’s tires were flattened and her bag and the money inside was missing," Tresvalles added in his resolution.-GMANews.TV