The Manila Times
THE wife of former lawmaker Mike Defensor denied allegations she was involved in the recent National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raid on a Pasay City establishment engaged in human trafficking. In a statement late on Friday, Julie Defensor called the accusations against her and her daughter baseless and malicious. “I am issuing this statement to categorically and forcefully deny the baseless, malicious allegations directed at me, my daughter, and our associated businesses,” Mrs. Defensor said. “Let me be absolutely clear regarding the recent NBI operation: we have absolutely no connection to the targeted establishment or its operations. Any attempt to link our family to the abhorrent acts allegedly committed there is a deliberate, dangerous, and desperate lie,” she added. Mrs. Defensor described the motive of the NBI operations as part of a smear campaign, saying that 1,000 employees’ lives are at stake because of a “political attack.” “This is a fabricated pretext designed to artificially manufacture a case, with the chilling goal of filing unwarranted, unbailable charges against me and my daughter,” she said. “This is part of a relentless pattern of harassment, and the collateral damage is devastating. Because of these political attacks, approximately 1,000 hardworking employees across various companies have abruptly lost their jobs — simply due to a perceived association with my husband, Mike. These are 1,000 families stripped of their livelihoods in the middle of a crisis. It is unconscionable that innocent workers are being sacrificed as pawns in someone else’s political vendetta,” Mrs. Defensor added. She also told NBI director Melvin Matibag that if he has any problem with her husband, he should take it up with him. “I address this to attorney Matibag: if you have a political or personal grievance with Mike, have the courage to resolve it with him directly. Stop using me, our daughter, and hundreds of innocent, displaced workers as collateral damage in a dispute that has nothing to do with us,” Mrs. Defensor said. “As a mother, my priority will always be the protection of my family. We will not be bullied, silenced, or intimidated by these cowardly tactics. We will exercise the full extent of the law to clear our names, expose this harassment, and hold those responsible accountable,” she added. In a statement on Friday, the NBI said they rescued 54 women in an “entrapment and rescue operation” against a suspected “trafficking-in-persons network operating” in the Chicago Nightclub and Bleu Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City, allegedly owned by Mrs. Defensor. Defensor defended his wife and daughter in an interview with radio DZMM and said it had something to do with his involvement in the 18 Marines, who served as bagmen for fellow former lawmaker Zaldy Co. “Don’t touch my family... of course, for me, I know that they have a case against me, but people are also being affected,” he said. The former lawmaker said his family gave up ownership of the hotel in 2019. “We gave up the operations of this hotel in 2019. I think there’s a document saying we still own this place, but technically, the corporation of the hotel operating under my name is no more,” Defensor said in Filipino. “It still exists but the operations ceased in 2019, but some financial documents need to be fixed, so it hasn’t closed,” he added. Defensor said the karaoke bar where the NBI operation took place is not owned by them.
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