Former gov’t lawyer in PTIC case wants P258 M

A former government lawyer for the Office of the Solicitor General and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has urged the Sandiganbayan to set aside over P200 million as lawyer’s fee.

Former solicitor Dennis Taningco has called on the Fourth Division of the Sandiganbayan to segregate one percent of the proceeds from the sale of the recovered 111,415 shares of the Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. (PTIC) as his attorney’s lien for handling the forfeiture case.

This means that Taningco could get P258 million from the recovered 111,415 PTIC shares valued at between P25 billion to P29 billion, making him the highest paid lawyer to be awarded by the court in Philippine history.

Taningco sent a notice of attorney’s lien before the Sandiganbayan’s Sheriff’s Office. He claimed there had been no objection from both parties over his move to collect one percent of the recovered shares which will be placed at the disposal of the court.

The Sandiganbayan has ordered the PTIC to cancel the 111,415 shares registered in the name of Prime Holdings Inc. (PHI), a dummy corporation allegedly set up during the Marcos administration, and issue new certificates in favor of the government.

PTIC was the single biggest stockholder in the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) during the administration of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

In his six-page "Notice of Attorney’s Lien as Charging Lien" Taningco said he was assigned as special counsel to the PCGG in August 1998.

Taningco claimed handling all the necessary case preparations for the forfeiture case until he was replaced by Tomas Evangelista as trial lawyer.

It was Evangelista who completed the presentation of evidence, Taningco said.

In 2002, the Sandiganbayan issued a ruling over the issue which according to Taningco had been adverse to the government.

Evangelista, upon the "encouragement" from Taningco, then prepared a petition in elevating the case before the Supreme Court.

Last Jan. 20, the Supreme Court reversed the Sandiganbayan ruling and ruled in favor of the government after declaring the shares as "ill-gotten."

Last Monday, the Sandiganbayan issued an eight-page resolution ordering the transfer of the PTIC shares to government.

Taningco said that after 20 years, the government, through the PCGG, now stands to recover PLDT shares worth P25.8 billion. The PCGG however estimates the value of the shares at P29 billion.

"On his part, Atty. Dennis M. Taningco seeks compensation for professional services rendered in this case in the amount equivalent to at least one percent of the value of property recovered, in the absence of a written stipulation as to his fee. To secure the same, he respectfully submits this notice of attorney’s lien as charging lien," Taningco stated in his notice of attorney’s lien.

Taningco explained the charging lien "is an equitable right to have the fees and costs due him for services in a suit secured to him out of the judgment or recovery in that particular suit."

"It rests on the equity of an attorney to be paid out of the judgment or recovery obtained by him, and is upheld on the theory that his services and skill created the fund," he said. — With Sandy Araneta