Lawyer: I withdrew from JPE-connected firm for Tuason case

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Dennis Manalo slammed critics claiming that his client, new "pork barrel" scam witness Ruby Tuason, is a "Trojan horse" from the camp of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and said he is not a puppet of the lawmaker.

Manalo said that accusations that he and Tuason are connected with Enrile only because they were both partners in the same law firm Siguion-Reyna, Montecillo and Ongsiako baseless.

"I entered it in 1996, and at that time I entered Senator Juan Ponce Enrile withdrew from that partnership 30 years earlier, in the 60s or early 70s. So to me that connection is quite remote," Manalo said in an interview over ANC.

He also admitted that he resigned from the law firm last January to take the case of Tuason as an independent practitioner.

"I left the firm early [the] month of January precisely because Mrs. Tuason had already informed me that she has already decided to cooperate with the government and return to the Philippines. These were one of my considerations in leaving the firm," Manalo said.

Manalo urged critics to base their suspicions on facts and not his supposed collusion with the senator, who allegedly played a central role in the malversation scheme of his Priority Development Assistance Funds.

"If you could describe Ruby Tuason's testimony as a sabotage for Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, it cannot be based on suspicion, it cannot be based on speculation. You need to show that there is some proof that will establish that collusion," he said.

He said that representing Tuason is not the only time he is going against Enrile, citing the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012 where he was counsel for the deposed magistrate.

"If the idea being proposed is that I am a puppet of Sen. Enrile, I think the public has seen that I have already taken a position contrary to Senator Enrile," he said.