Party at The Firm: 2010 bets invited, but not GMA, FG
The once notoriously popular law firm identified with the First Couple will celebrate tomorrow the return of its seven partners, and invited all presidential aspirants but not President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo to the celebration.
A very reliable source told The STAR that the Villaraza law firm sent invitations to Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Manny Villar and Senators Mar Roxas II, Loren Legarda and Panfilo Lacson. But it did not invite its famous former clients, Mrs. Arroyo and her husband.
Seven former associates of “The Firm,” who once held sensitive positions in government, have since returned to private practice.
The law firm, originally known as “Carpio, Villaraza and Cruz,” was renamed “Villaraza & Angangco” law office after its founder, now Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, and Avelino Cruz, who joined the government as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, left the firm.
“The Firm” will be launching tomorrow its new name, after seven of its partners returned.
It will now carry the name “Villaraza, Cruz, Marcelo & Angangco” law office, as Cruz (who became defense secretary but quit after three Cabinet members reportedly wanted him out) and resigned Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo rejoined the team effective January 2008.
Arthur “Pancho” Villaraza and Raoul Angangco are senior partners of the firm.
The five other returning partners are former Defense Undersecretaries Rodel Cruz and Rafael Santos, former Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Joe Nathan Tenefrancia, former Defense Assistant Secretary Aida Roxas-Rivera and John Balisno, a former solicitor at the Office of the Solicitor General and who served as Marcelo’s head executive assistant in the Ombudsman.
The law firm will be having cocktails at
For quite some time now, rumors have been circulating that The Firm began to have a falling out with Mrs. Arroyo in October 2006, when its founding partner, Carpio, penned the decision and voted against the alleged Malacanang-sponsored Charter Change.
A month later, Cruz called it quits and resigned from the Cabinet, reportedly under pressure from three pro-Charter change secretaries.
“Actually, it just happened (falling out with President Arroyo). There was no official resignation on Pancho’s (Villaraza) part because there was no official designation anyway,” an insider revealed.
If he were to interpret it, the source explained that it was a “confluence of events” of the Cha-cha defeat, the unexpected and abrupt resignation of Cruz and the NAIA III case, where The Firm was accused of extortion just to ensure that Fraport bags the contract.
The Firm reportedly issued in September 2007 a veiled warning to President Arroyo that if they were able to help build a case against former President Joseph Estrada, then they could also do so in her case, especially since they have seen how the Arroyos were reportedly running the government.
A lawyer-source disclosed that the law firm had been helping in the Estrada case even during the December 2000 impeachment, by way of using the office’s resources and sending “volunteer lawyers” during the trial. “They helped, but not officially as a firm,” the source said.
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