“I’ve been a lawyer for 25 years and I have many clients. Before I went to bed last night, I thought of all provinces of the Philippines. I could not think of one province where I didn’t have a client one way or another,” Brillantes said Tuesday.

In Metro Manila alone, the veteran election lawyer recounted, he had three clients who are, or were, mayors—Alfredo Lim of Manila, Antonino Calixto of Pasay City and Freddie Tinga of Taguig City.

To get rid of what critics regard as heavy baggage past a likely rough time in the Commission on Appointments (CA), Brillantes told reporters he had “suggested very strongly” to his law firm partners to drop all pending cases before the Comelec.

He said his partners in the Brillantes, Nachura, Navarro, Jumamil & Arcilla Law Offices had agreed to his proposal and would soon be gradually withdrawing representation in the 23 pending election-related cases being handled by his law firm.

Gradual turnover

Brillantes said the firm’s current cases at the Comelec regional, provincial and municipal levels would be turned over to other law firms and only those pending at the congressional electoral tribunals and the trial courts would be retained.

“I told my former clients that they are at a big disadvantage because of the fact that they are my former clients. Because if they have a case or problem, I would think twice helping them because the eyes of the public are on me and I might be accused of being biased in their favor. So I’ll avoid contact with all my former clients,” he explained.

Brillantes earlier said that he had handled some 2,500 cases in more than two decades as an election lawyer. Colleagues estimated that Brillantes could lose some P65.5 million in potential income from the several dozen pending cases his firm would drop.

The 71-year-old namesake son of a former Comelec commissioner was sworn in on Sunday to continue the four-year unfinished term of resigned Comelec Chair Jose Melo.

Swift hearing

He said Tuesday that he would seek the support of the leaders of Congress for a speedy CA hearing.

“I would really like to have an immediate confirmation so I can really go down and start working seriously. There are lots of problems I have to deal with,” Brillantes told a news conference.

Asked about his chances in the CA, he replied, “I’m not that confident. I know I have some political adversaries but I am hoping that I will get the vote of the majority. I do have many friends,” he said. “But even so, it’s better to be clean before the CA.”

Brillantes said that he planned to call on the current CA chair, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, and possibly two other CA members—not only to introduce himself but to also seek lawmakers’ support for Comelec’s undertakings.

Nothing against Cayetano

He said he had nothing against Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, a member of the CA, who has expressed his opposition to his appointment. “He is young, intelligent. I watched him grow and greatly respect him.”

Brillantes briefly attended an en banc (full session) of the Comelec that discussed several upcoming special elections and a reply to a Supreme Court on a motion to cite it for contempt for failure to make public the source code of the counting machines used in the 2010 elections.

Jerome Aning, Phil. Daily Inquirer