MANILA, Philippines - A former lawyer of Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar on Monday filed a disbarment case against his former boss, lawyer Nalen Rosero-Galang, after the latter filed a disbarment case against him.
In a petition filed before the Supreme Court, Atty. Restituto Mendoza accused Galang, chief legal officer of the Villar group, of abetting the illegal practices of Villar including bribery, corruption, deceit and fraud.
Mendoza's lawyer, Argee Guevarra, said the disbarment case is not politically-motivated and that his client is willing to reveal more of Villar's scams and anomalies.
In an earlier interview on ABS-CBN, Mendoza accused the Villar group of various anomalies including bribing government officials and judges and faking land titles to skirt potential legal issues. His accusations against Villar were detailed in a series of investigative reports by Aries Rufo of Newsbreak.
On the other hand, Rosero-Galang branded Mendoza as an “extortionist and compulsive liar” after he tried to demand P25 million from the senator’s company at the height of the C-5 controversy in exchange for his silence.
“First, he was fired after he attempted to blackmail the company during the C-5 investigation. Nag-demand siya ng P25 million from the company, otherwise, he will go to Senator (Panfilo) Lacson. May ipinakita siya, may nakahanda na siyang affidavit," she said in a statement.