LOS Angeles lawyer Joel Bander vehemently denies accusations of acts of lasciviousness filed against him in the Philippines more than three years ago. According to Atty. Bander, the supposed victim, identified as Cristina San Jose, is a fictitious person.
“I vehemently deny the allegations of Ms. San Jose, if this person really exists. Our investigation reveals that the address given by this person who filed the charges against me is a warehouse. She did not even appear in the hearing. Hence, it is obvious, or should be, that this complaining person never had the intent to really come forward and complain but only to cause me problems,” said Atty. Bander.
According to Atty. Bander, he was not aware of the charges until articles about the case were published in Manila Standard and in People’s Tonight. Both articles, according to Atty. Bander, were full of false information with the Manila Standard article saying that Bander is a Filipino-American claiming to work in the US Consulate (Bander is of Eastern European Jewish descent); and the People’s Tonight stating that Bander was a trader facing illegal recruitment charges in Branch 78 of Regional Trial Court in Taguig. These articles, according to Atty. Bander, were later retracted by the publishers, stating that the charges were untrue and without basis. Atty. Bander also added that The Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court certified that no Branch 78 exists in Taguig.
Atty. Bander successfully moved for a reinvestigation of the charges on the ground that he was not notified and given an opportunity to submit a counter-affidavit. San Jose did not appear at the investigation hearing.
A member of the Philippine National Police, SPO2 Marcelino Dizon Y. Macaraig, executed an affidavit on the result of his investigation as to San Jose’s alleged address. “On or about 10 September 2006, I was tasked to check on the address of one Cristina San Jose, who was allegedly residing at No. 94 Panay St., Quezon City. When I checked on the said address, there was no such Panay Street in Quezon City, but only Panay Avenue, which is located at Brgy Paligsahan, Quezon City. Nonetheless, I still checked the said establishment at number 94 along Panay Avenue, Quezon City and it turned out to be a warehouse with the name of B.E. Corporation. I asked some of the workers inside the said warehouse, whether there was a Cristina San Jose living or working there and the answer was negative. On November 4, 2006, I returned to the area to verify again the adjoining buildings and found out that the said area is a commercial land and not a residential area,” stated PNP officer Macaraig in his affidavit.
When the prosecutor denied the motion for reconsideration, Atty. Bander filed a petition for review with the Department of Justice. The petition has been pending since October 2007. Meanwhile, a warrant was issued by the court for the arrest of Atty. Bander in July 2008.
Recently, in an article published on Journal Online, it was stated that Atty. Bander has been placed on a watch list by the Board of Immigration.
Bander stated that this is clearly the work of legal adversaries. When asked for further comment Bander stated, “That will come later.”
Atty. Bander denies allegations in the article that he is a fugitive, as he has even been going in and out of the Philippines about a dozen times since 2007 to oversee the operations of his business office in Manila.
“This is merely a clear attempt to ruin my good name and reputation with this baseless and malicious complaint,” said Atty. Bander, who stressed that he has no intention of fleeing from the case, and in fact wants to see it resolved as soon as possible and for those behind the false charges to be brought to justice. “I hope the Philippine Justice officials will finally act on my petition filed over two years ago to finally put this matter to rest as it is clear this is a set-up by a person not using her real name or address,” he added.
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