The lawyer of businessman and online sabong operator Atong Ang on Thursday debunked claims that she met the families of the missing sabungeros.

Caroline Cruz, Executive Director of Pitmaster Foundation, insisted the victims’ relatives came to her office in Mandaluyong on April 20, where the first meeting took place. She said she met them not individually but as a group, adding that there are witnesses who can back her claim.

“I was surprised by their visit, but I welcomed them. It was a cordial meeting, if I am to describe it,” Cruz explained.

The lawyer recalled that the group was led by Diane Loyola, a victim’s relative, who told Cruz that they were meeting her in the hope that she could lead them to the truth about the case.

“I told them I am also in search of the truth, and honestly, that is the only reason why I allowed that unscheduled meeting to happen,” she said.

Contrary to the group’s statement, Cruz maintained she did not call them or ask anybody to arrange the meeting on her behalf.

But in the course of her conversation with the group, Cruz said she was surprised that they did not know she was initially among those charged in the case.

“I was stunned by their reply when I offered that information to them. But since I also seek the truth, I became more convinced to set another meeting,” Cruz added.

She said she chose Shangri-La as the venue of their succeeding meeting because it is a public place.

Cruz said she had already noticed that someone was secretly taking pictures of them but just ignored it since she was not hiding anything.

“They said they also have an audio recording of our conversations. I dare them to make that public,” Cruz stressed.

At the same time, she denied claims by the group that she arranged the trips of other members of the victims’ families to casinos and to a resort in Iba, Zambales.

But she admitted she personally gave them money as a form of support for their causes.

“I did not ask for anything in return for the financial support that I gave them. They signed nothing that would, in any way, be useful in the case,” Cruz said.

As a lawyer, Cruz said the relatives of the victims are not necessarily parties to the case.

She said some are complainants’ family members, but not all are witnesses.

“To ask for their recantation is not something that a sensible lawyer would even ask at this point. They are not even witnesses to the case, to begin with,” she pointed out.

This “blatant fact,” according to her, belies the group’s assertion that the money she gave was meant to silence them.

“When almost all of them started to talk about how difficult their lives are now after what they’ve been through, that’s the time when I offered them help without asking for anything,” Cruz said.

“Nagulat nga ako when they were showing P1,000 bills supposedly contained in the brown envelope, when I vividly remember giving them money all in P500-peso denominations,” she said.

Cruz clarified she gave the members of the group she met with P20,000 each and not P40,000 as they claimed.

Meanwhile, Cruz said the group’s decision to make the details of their meeting public could be part of continuing efforts by self-proclaimed whistleblower Julie Patidongan to muddle the case.