MENDOZA AN EXTORTIONIST—VILLAR’S CHIEF LEGAL

OFFICER

THE chief legal officer of Nacionalista Party standard-

bearer Manny Villar branded as “an extortionist and a
congenital liar” lawyer Restituto Mendoza who demanded
P25 million from the senator’s company at the height of the
C-5 controversy.

Reacting to ABS-CBN Online report entitled, “How Villar

Built Business Empire with Deceit, Corruption,” lawyer Ma.
Nalen Rosero-Galang stressed Mendoza’s pronouncements
maligning the reputation of Villar are blatant lies since they
are “unfounded and have no basis.”

The truth of the matter, Rosero-Galang said, the source of

the report is a “poisonous tree” because he has evil motive
and criminal intent to get back at the senator, who is
running for president.

Mendoza was dismissed from work because he attempted

to blackmail the Household Development Corp., one of the
firms under the real estate of Villar.

According to Rosero-Galang, Mendoza has harbored ill

grudge against the senator villar’s company after being fired
from his job.

“And now, he is exacting vendetta after his ambition to rake

in millions at the expense of Villar’s company was
frustrated. He is merely hallucinating. These are just
pigments of his imagination and would not hold water,”
said Rosero-Galang.

Aside from his botched plan to “unjustly enrich” himself

by turning the senator’s company into a “milking cow,”
Rosero-Galang said Mendoza became more angry when he
was not appointed head of the Legal Department of Villar’s
company.
 “So there was so much hatred in his heart. His ego was
also badly bruised because he saw himself as God’s gift to
the legal profession, and yet, he got a poor evaluation on
his job performance,” disclosed Rosero-Galang adding that
Mendoza is now acting like a scorned woman.

She also said the truthfulness of Mendoza ’s allegations

were further disproved by his actuations.

“Significantly, while saying that he is seeking restitution

for his sins of commission and omission as a former
employee of the Villar company, Mendoza, in his complaint
for illegal dismissal, is seeking for a reinstatement. “Now,
isn’t that enough to disprove the truthfulness of his
allegations? If indeed Villar’s company is illegally
conducting its business as alleged by Mendoza, why would
he want to be reinstated?”

She said Mendoza already got the chance to amass wealth

by ‘concocting stories’, yet it did not succeed. The company
did not accede to his demand. It was unfazed by Mendoza ’s
threats as it maintained there is nothing to fear since all its
transactions are legal.

Because of these frustrations, he threatened to go to

fugitive Senator Panfilo Lacson and Senator Jamby
Madrigal, another presidentiable, to tell his stories allegedly
about the irregularities that marred the operations of Villar’s
companies.

During that time, the embattled Villar was the subject of

tirades and attacks by his colleagues, some of whom turned
out to be training their guns on the presidency.

Rosero-Galang said the C-5 controversy, which was well-

explained and answered point by point by the senator, was
brought up in the Senate.

Mendoza tried to sell his “fabricated story” not only to

Lacson but also Madrigal and to the Senate blue ribbon
committee but nobody bought his story.
 Additonally, Rosero-Galang decried the failure one-sided
report. In the interest of fair play, she said their side on the
matter should be afforded ample opportunity to be heard by
the public.

“Being one of the major networks, we could only expect a

more exacting observance of ethical conduct in publishing a
report,” said Rosero-Galang.

“How come serious allegations of bribery, corruption,

among others, which are not supported by documents, were
included in the report,” she lamented.

She also assailed failure to include in the report the

blackmailing attempt of Mendoza on Villar’s despite duly
executed documents to bolster the issue.

At the same time, she said Mendoza has no business

talking about the Masaito agreement because he never took
part in its drafting and negotiation. She said Mendoza
merely drafted a secretary’s certificate which was not even
implemented.

She said the Masaito transaction was already sufficiently

explained during the C-5 senate hearing, but this was was
conveniently ignored in the report.

At the same, she questioned the documents gathered by

Newsbreak which allegedly showed that Capitol Bank and
Manila Brickworks “acquired possession of the ancestral
lands through fraud and manipulative layering scheme.”

“What are these documents,” asked the lawyer as she

asserted that all the properties transferred to Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas are covered by titles existing on file with
the Registry of Deeds.

Rosero-Galang also refuted the report’s claim that Manila

Brickworks resurfaced in 1998 with new incorporators that
interlocked with those of Capitol Bank.
 “This is absolutely not true,” she said. She pointed out
Manila Brickworks and Capitol Bank never had interlocking
directors. She said the companies are totally unrelated.

She also debunked the report that Capitol Bank eventually

closed. She said it never ceased operation as it simply
changed its name to Optimum Development Bank.

She likewise belied allegations that Villar’s company

duped Ayala Land as the companies owned by the senator
do not have any unpaid or unsettled obligation to Ayala
Land .#