Nani’s lawyer not DOJ usec after all

The lawyer of former justice secretary Hernando Perez was never appointed as justice department undersecretary after all.

Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong said Wednesday night that lawyer Agnes Devanadera never assumed the post at the department despite the announced designation.

"I think the appointment was not issued because if it was, it should have come to me. I did not see it and so perhaps that’s the end of it. It was just a plan," Datumanong said in a forum sponsored by the Manila Overseas Press Club.

Datumanong disclosed he did not have any objection to the supposed appointment when he was informed about it by the Presidential Management Staff while he was in Cotabato.

But he admitted expressing reservations because the Department of Justice (DOJ) already has four undersecretaries.

"The fact is that the only positions available are four, and as a matter of fact it is only three, but the fourth is co-terminus with me," Datumanong said.

Perez quit his post amid allegations of extradited Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez and Bulacan Rep. Wilfrido Villarama that the former DOJ chief extorted $2 million from Jimenez and hid the money in a Coutts bank account in Hong Kong.

Apart from allegations of extortion, Perez has been asked by the Senate to explain how the P95 million fund of the Witness Protection Program was spent.

Devanadera is among the lawyers Perez hired to pursue the cases he filed against Jimenez and Villarama.

Devanadera herself confirmed her appointment as new DOJ undersecretary and Datumanong had said he was ready to swear her into office.

The lawyer acted as executive director of the national secretariat of administration party Lakas-NUCD from 1998 to 2000.

She was secretary-general of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines from 1992-1995, within her term as mayor of Sampaloc town in Quezon province from 1988-1998.

From 1976-1987, she was managing partner of Perez’s law firm, the Balgos and Perez Law Offices. She is at present a partner in the Libarios, Devanadera, Jalandoni & Dimayuga Law Offices.

Since January 2002, Devanadera has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Local Government Academy of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.