Tamano to quit Belo, PLM for Villar

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Adel Tamano announced yesterday that he will give up his legal services for controversial cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo and will also resign from his post as president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila to concentrate on his position as spokesman of the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manuel Villar.

“I cannot be the spokesman of Sen. Villar and Dr. Belo at the same time. I am relinquishing my legal services soon,” Tamano told reporters during the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo Hotel in Quezon City.

“I have to disengage my services so I can devote all my time as spokesman of the Nacionalista Party,” he said.

He admitted that being a lawyer for Belo, who has been implicated in a controversial sex video case involving her former boyfriend Dr. Hayden Kho, is not an easy job.

Tamano said as a lawyer, he accepted the offer to become the legal counsel of Belo because he is convinced that she is innocent of the charges hurled against her and Kho.

He said before the sex video scandal broke out, he was already the lawyer of Belo and handling the cases pending before the Department of Justice is part of his job.

Tamano, former spokesman of the United Opposition, said his job as Belo’s legal counsel will only be confined to the preliminary stages of the sex video case and since it is expected to drag beyond the 2010 elections, he has no choice but to end his services.

As of Friday, a US-based web-hosting site has urged the National Bureau of Investigation to secure a US court order to allow the firm to reveal who uploaded the sex videos of Kho and actress Katrina Halili on the Internet.

The NBI’s Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division said the request for a system log to identify the culprit would delay their investigation of the case.

Tamano, however, did not say when he would be relinquishing his legal services for Belo but he is certain that he will be resigning as president of PLM when the filing of certificates of candidacy for national and local candidates begins in November.

Tamano said he is interested in running for a Senate seat in 2010 under the Nacionalista Party.   – Perseus Echeminada