Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Before Pearl and I left to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in the morning, Randy and I prayed and recited the rosary first.

We had difficulty getting a cab but, thankfully, we arrived on time. The taxi driver was smart enough to take a shorter route. As we entered the court room, we waited for couple of minutes until the Presiding Judge appeared and we all stood up to start the court proceedings.

My case is the 10th in the Court Calendar. Both petitioner and counsel appeared. Only respondent's counsel showed up but clothed with a Special Power of Attorney authorizing him to represent respondent in the Pre-trial Conference. Respondent's counsel manifested that the marriage contract is a falsified document which my counsel objected to: The truth of the matter are those alleged in the Petition. The Presiding Judge ordered that the Pre-trial is terminated and scheduled the next hearing on July 27, 2006 at 8:30am for the initial presentation of petitioner's evidence. This means that I will take the witness stand on said date subject to cross-examination of respondent's counsel and the Assistant City Prosecutor, counsel for the State.

When we're done in the court room, I found out from my counsel that the judge has an official leave in June that's why the next hearing will be in July. Anyway, for that brief conference, I paid my counsel her appearance fee.

Randy was surprised that I came back home after two hours, he's very pleased that the case is moving but was annoyed by the stupidity of Abdulelah's counsel.