Vhong's lawyer not happy prosecuting Deniece

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Alma Mallonga has no regrets taking television host Vhong Navarro's case, but admitted that she is not happy working against commercial model Deniece Cornejo as she is a women's rights advocate.

Mallonga, who said she does not take guilty parties as clients, said that if a woman approaches her crying of rape, she normally does not hesitate pursuing cases against suspects.

Cornejo's charges of rape against Navarro, however, had a different intent, she claimed.

"If this was a rape case at the first instance, I would not have accepted it. But I talked to Vhong and this was about a crime that had been committed against him, and it became very apparent to me that all these claims of rape are to deter him, to destroy this reputation," Mallonga said in an interview on ABS-CBN's Bandila on Monday night.

"So am I happy? No. Because that's what I do, [defend women].  At the get go, if a woman tells me she was raped, my first inclination is to believe her," she added.

She also expressed sorrow that Cornejo allegedly uses the issue of rape as the move does not help real victims of abuse.

"Itong mga nakikita natin na obviously, palpably walang kaso, does that make me happy, no. And that damages the cause of women. I have to tell you, I'm not happy about that," Mallonga explained.

Mallonga is also confident that other rape complaints lodged against the embattled Navarro will not persist in court.

She claims that the two other rape charges following Cornejo's dismissed rape case before the Department of Justice was filed to discourage Navarro.

Also read: Vhong's camp: No state witness needed

"[The other rape cases] were all submitted on a resolution and can I tell you, ni hindi ko na inaalala yon sa totohanan lang. It's not a question of nagmamayabang or being over confident, it's just clear to me what is required in order for the case to move forward," Mallonga said, referring to the ongoing trial on the serious illegal detention case against businessman Cedric Lee before the Taguig Regional Trial Court.

"I'm telling you, this was filed for distracting Vhong, discouraging him maybe to send out a message that maybe [he] should not move forward. It did not work and it's not going to work," the lawyer said.

Besides handling high-profile corporate cases and cases of sexually abused minors, Mallonga was the lawyer of Rod Strunk, the suspected mastermind in the murder of veteran star Nida Blanca in 2001.

Mallonga, a partner in Siguion Reyna Monteccilo & Ongsiako law firm, also served as legal counsel of Claudine Barretto's former personal assistant, Dessa Patilan, in the theft controversy.