OVP spox Castelo: No lawyer-client ties with Atong Ang since 2009
MANILA, Philippines — Office of the Vice President spokesperson Ruth Castelo denied on Wednesday, July 16, that she still has a lawyer-client relationship with Atong Ang after the end of his probation in 2009.
Castelo said their professional ties ended after Ang was released from a Bicutan detention facility, where he served a two-year probation sentence related to a plea deal in connection with former President Joseph Estrada’s plunder case.
"As soon as he was released from Bicutan in 2009, that was the end of our lawyer-client relationship," she said at a press conference.
Castelo represented Ang in 2007 on plunder charges and successfully secured probation for him by having him enter a plea deal. "Charlie Atong Ang was my client in 2007 for the crime of plunder. He went on probation — we succeeded in seeking probation," she said.
Since Ang's release in 2009, Castelo said she has not been involved in any of the businessman's activities.
"We remain friends, yes, but his own endeavors and businesses, I have nothing to do with them," the OVP spokesperson said.
Castelo made the clarification while noting that the focus of the press conference should remain on the OVP rather than her personal background.
In November 2006, Ang was extradited from the United States to the Philippines to face plunder charges alongside former President Joseph Estrada. Ang was accused of acting as Estrada’s bagman in illegal gambling operations. He had fled to the US following Estrada’s ouster.
Ang later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of corrupting a public official, or indirect bribery. He was sentenced to two years of probation, which he served until 2009.
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