SAYING it’s the families and relatives of the missing ‘sabungeros’ (cockfight enthusiasts) that first approached her for a meeting that occurred twice, a top executive of a foundation linked to fugitive gambling tycoon Charlie ‘Atong’ Ang has committed herself to be open to any investigation by the proper authorities to know who’re telling lies.
Lawyer Caroline Cruz, Ang’s legal counsel and Pitmaster Foundation executive director, admitted in huddle with Quezon City-based reporters that she personally gave them P20, 000 each “but as a form of support for their causes.”
“I didn’t ask for anything in return for the financial support that I gave them. They signed nothing that would, in any way, be useful in this case.”
Cruz likewise challenged the victims’ relatives to make public about their claim that they had an audio recording of their conversations.
Ang’s counsel gave her side after she’s shocked to learn that the group led by one Diane Loyola, a victim’s relative, came out in public while alleging that she gave them P40,000 each to silence them.
Saying she too was also in search of the truth that she let the meeting take place, Cruz recalled that the group would tell her that they’re meeting her in the hope that she could lead them to the truth about the case.
Maintaining that she’s not hiding anything, she even chose Edsa Shangri-La in Mandaluyong City to be the venue of the second meeting because it’s a public place.
She also denied the group’s claims that she arranged the trips of other members of the victims’ families to casinos and to a resort in Iba, Zambales.
As a lawyer, she knew that the victims’ relatives were not necessarily parties to the case.
“To ask for their recantation is not something that a sensible lawyer would even ask at this point. They’re not even witnesses to the case, to begin with.”
Asked about the group’s decision to reveal their meeting in public, Cruz said: “It could be part of continuing efforts by self-proclaimed whistleblower Julie Patidongan to muddle the case.”
