Duterte appoints VACC lawyer gov’t corporate counsel

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed a lawyer for an anti-crime watchdog group as Government Corporate Counsel.

Lawyer Rudolf Philip Jurado of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) was tapped by Duterte to succeed Ireneo Galicia, according to the transmittal letter sent by Malacañang to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on April 18.

Jurado recently represented the VACC in the Court of Appeals petition to stop the conversion of iconic Army and Navy Club into a casino gaming facility and a five-star boutique hotel.

He was also the lawyer of actor Robin Padilla in all his criminal and civil cases including illegal possession of firearms.

A son of a former magistrate, the 53-year-old Jurado had taught political law and constitutional law at the Philippine School of Business Administration, Lyceum of the Philippines, University of the East and the Manuel Luis Quezon University.

Founded in 1935, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel is an attached agency of the DOJ. It is principal law office of government-owned-and-controlled corporations (GOCC) and their subsidiaries.

The OGCC is also tasked to defend government financial institutions, government corporate offspring, government instrumentalities with corporate powers and government acquired asset corporations. —NB, GMA News