MANILA - The camp of actress Claudine Barretto has finally reacted to the theft case filed against the actress by her former personal assistant, Dessa Patilan.
In a statement sent to ABS-CBNNews.com, Barretto's lawyer, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, believes that Patilan is colluding with the actress' estranged husband, Raymart Santiago.
"All of these things, when taken with our previous observations that former personal staff members of Ms. Barretto were colluding with Mr. Santiago after he had left the conjugal abode, in order to obtain certain valuable personal properties from the household and also information as to Ms. Barretto’s movements, make the merits of the case and the persons behind the filing thereof, very suspicious," the statement said.
“Why is the complainant represented by one of the country’s biggest and most expensive law offices, which has previously represented interests identified with Ms. Gretchen Barretto and her longtime companion Mr. Tonyboy Cojuangco?" the statement added.
Aside from Barretto's legal battle against Patilan and Santiago, she has a rift with her sisters, Marjorie and Gretchen.
The 19-year-old Patilan is the same personal assistant who was imprisoned in May this year following Barretto's accusations of theft.
Below is the full statement of Topacio:
“Our first impulse upon hearing of the theft case filed against Ms. Claudine Barretto was to ignore it as nothing but an unintelligently obvious attempt on the part of Ms. Dessa Patilan to divert the issue from a qualified theft case filed against her over four months ago for attempting to spirit away from Ms. Barretto’s household millions worth of valuable personal effects.
“Upon closer examination, however, there may be more to the theft counter-charge against Ms. Barretto than meets the eye, for which a brief statement may be needed. For instance:
“1. Why did it come four months after the original qualified theft charge against the complainant, when the acts complained of were allegedly done by Ms. Barretto simultaneously with the thievery of Ms. Patilan?
“2. Why did it come only after the cases filed by Ms. Barretto against her estranged and strange husband Mr. Raymart Santiago for Protection Orders, Violence Against Women and Perjury, and only after a renewal of enmities between Ms. Barretto and her sister Gretchen?
“3. Why is the complainant represented by one of the country’s biggest and most expensive law offices, which has previously represented interests identified with Ms. Gretchen Barretto and her longtime companion Mr. Tonyboy Cojuangco?
“All of these things, when taken with our previous observations that former personal staff members of Ms. Barretto were colluding with Mr. Santiago after he had left the conjugal abode, in order to obtain certain valuable personal properties from the household and also information as to Ms. Barretto’s movements, make the merits of the case and the persons behind the filing thereof, very suspicious.
“As always, our legal team will keep protecting Ms. Claudine Barretto from such harassment suits and we shall never rest until her interests and that of her children, Santino and Sabina, are fully vindicated.”
