Pro-Duterte group’s lawyer named gov’t corporate counsel

A lawyer of the pro-Duterte Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) has been appointed to a plum government post.

Rudolf Philip Jurado was designated by President Duterte to head the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC), an attached agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ) tasked as the primary counsel of all government-owned and -controlled corporations.

Malacañang released on Monday the appointment paper of Jurado dated April 18.

In a statement on Tuesday, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said: “We welcome to the DOJ family the newly appointed head of the OGCC. We hope that he will lead the OGCC towards attaining our reform-oriented targets as one department under the Duterte administration. We are looking forward to working with him.”

The 53-year-old Jurado, who earned his law degree at the University of the East, is the son of the late Court of Appeals Justice Desiderio Jurado.

He has served as one of the associate lawyers of the late Dean Antonio Coronel.

Celebrity lawyer

As VACC lawyer, Jurado led the filing of a case questioning the renovation of the historic Army Navy Club in Manila into a boutique hotel and casino.

Jurado, a brother of retired Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Roland Jurado, is also known as a lawyer of several show biz personalities.

He represented actor Robin Padilla who was charged of illegal possession of firearms in 1993.

He was responsible for the acquittal and exoneration of the cases filed against comedian Joey Marquez, then Parañaque City mayor.

Jurado also served as legal adviser for actress and television host Anne Curtis and actor Rommel Padilla.

Interestingly, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had filed a petition abolishing the OGCC and the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which was created to go after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family.