ILIGAN CITY, Philippines?(UPDATE) Conrado "Dodie" Limcaoco distanced himself on Tuesday from the "Alabang Boys" drug case involving his nephew Richard Brodett.

"I cannot deny my blood but I will deny influencing the case," Limcaoco, the head of the Philippine Information Agency, told reporters before the start of the Cabinet meeting here.

Limcaoco was responding to insinuations that his relationship with Brodett might have been used to influence the outcome of the case filed before the Department of Justice.

He admitted that Brodett's mother was his cousin.

Asked if he had ever tried to help his nephew in the case or if he had been asked for assistance, he repeatedly replied: "I did not attempt to influence the case."

Brodett, along with Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson, was arrested in a buy-bust operation by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in September 2008.

But DOJ prosecutors found no probable cause to elevate the complaint to the courts even as PDEA officials came out with revelations that money changed hands.