Following are two columns, Cocktail Perks at BSP by lawyer Harry Roque and P200,000 to attack Tetangco by journalist Vic Agustin of Manila Standard.
Harry Roque is being criticized for charging Bancco Filipino, who recently was taken over by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for alleged insolvency, P1.28 lawyers fee plus other fees. What’s wrong with a lawyer charging clients fees for services rendered?
I personally know that Atty. Roque is doing a lot of pro bono cases.
Here’s Roque’s column answering Agustin’s criticism against him. Agustin’s column is also reproduced in this post
Cocktail Perks at BSP
By Harry Roque
Cocktales writer Victor Agustin tried to malign my law firm in his column last Monday. No effort at all was made to hear the other side, my side, which genuine journalists always do to differentiate themselves from paid hacks.
In past press releases, the BSP falsely linked me to a supposed P245 million payment made by Banco Filipino (BF) for legal services. In his smear column, however, Agustin unconsciously exposed BSP’s malice because, all along, it turns out that the BSP had records showing that my firm merely got paid one-half of 1% of the alleged P245 million amount. In fact, with P400,000 in still unpaid legal fees, my firm is a victim of the BF closure.