QC prosecutor junks complaint vs Pacquiao

The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office junked Monday the complaint against world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao for failing to provide child support as alleged by Joanna Rose Bacosa, who said she was his former girlfriend. Assistant City Prosecutor Maria Gracia Cadiz-Casaclang, in a five-page resolution, said that there was lack of evidence to charge Pacquiao with violation Republic Act 9262, or an Act Defining Violence against Women and Their Children. "For one to claim that her child was deliberately deprived of financial support, an act punishable under RA 9262, it is necessary first to prove that the child is entitled for support from his putative father," Casaclang said in her resolution. Bacosa filed the complaint last February after Pacquiao reportedly stopped giving financial support to their barely two-year-old child. Pacquiao, 27, is married and has three children. The World Boxing Council (WBC) international superfeatherweight champion is one of the most popular personalities in the Philippines. Child support In her complaint, Bacosa claimed that she first met Pacquiao in March 2003 at a hotel in Malate, Manila, where she worked as a "spotter" for billiards players, as well as a waitress. Bacosa said that she had a relationship with Pacquiao, got pregnant, and gave birth to their son on Jan. 2, 2004. The complainant added that the boxer had convinced her not to undergo an abortion, which is illegal in the country. Bacosa said that after Pacquiao’s training in the United States, the boxer gave her P300,000 as a Christmas gift and P20,000 to pay the rent of her apartment. Pacquiao allegedly stopped giving support after the birth of their child. The complainant said she was surprised when Pacquiao called her on Nov. 23, 2005, asking them to go to Cebu. She and her son reportedly met Pacquiao at a hotel in Cebu, where the latter gave her P3,000 as pocket money. Bacosa said she did not hear from Pacquiao after the Cebu meeting until he called her on Jan. 16, 2006 after learning that she had come out in the open and was considering suing him. Bacosa further alleged that the boxer threatened to have her son kidnapped. 'False' allegations Pacquiao denied Bacaso's allegations in his counter-affidavit. "The allegations of complainant are false and I could not believe that despite all the help he has given her and her child, she still filed the complaint," Pacquiao said. He refused to comment on the complainant’s allegation that they had a relationship. Pacquiao also denied having refused to provide child support but asserted that he did not know who was really the father of the child. He added that providing financial help did not prove that the child was his, and that even if they had a relationship as claimed in the complaint, this did not prove paternity. The boxer further denied having threatened to kidnap the child. In her resolution, Casaclang said a baptismal certificate submitted by the complainant that stated Pacquiao was the child’s father only showed that the sacrament was given on the date specified but did not resolve the issue of paternity. "The pictures presented by complainant taken inside their room at Waterfront Hotel do not prove paternity of respondent over the child. Said pictures only proved that complainant and her child posed with respondent and had their picture taken together," the Quezon City assistant prosecutor said. Casaclang also said that allegations that the respondent had made threats were unsubstantiated and insufficient to establish probable cause. -GMANews.TV