CANNOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT. PEP made several attempts to get the side of Richard Gutierrez's lawyers since Tuesday, May 25. On every occasion, they were unavailable for comment.

On Tuesday night, May 25, PEP sent e-mail messages to Attorneys Asuncion, Panganiban, Mallari, and Bio, but up to press time, none of the lawyers has replied.

On Wednesday, May 26, PEP sent a text message to the personal cellphone number of Atty. Malou Panganiban. We received no reply.

Throughout Thursday, May 27, PEP called the BGEPAL Law Offices more than ten times to get the side of the four lawyers. Again, they were unreachable. According to their respective secretaries, Atty. Mallari had already resigned, Atty. Asuncion was in a meeting, Atty. Panganiban was not in the office, and Atty. Bio was in a seminar.

In the afternoon of the same day, we called Bio's office again. Bio's secretary told PEP that her boss was already on the way to the office, and that the lawyer would return our call as soon as she arrived. However, there was no call that evening or the next day. At press time, or seven days later, there was still no call.

On Monday, May 31, PEP made another five calls to the BGEPAL Law Offices. Again, the lawyers were unreachable for comment. Asuncion's secretary, however, relayed to PEP that the lawyer had been informed about our queries. She also said that Asuncion told her to remind him of the PEP inquiry once he returned to the office.

Yesterday, June 2, PEP sent another set of e-mail messages to Attorneys Asuncion, Panganiban, Mallari, and Bio. This second set included questions about the Cavite court Order in which Judge Cupin-Tesorero said she was inhibiting herself from the case. At press time, not one of the four lawyers has replied in any form.

PEP also tried to reach former Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera to get her response to the disbarment case that  Abbas has threatened to file.

PEP sent three text messages to Atty. Devanadera's personal number, on the following dates and time: May 27, 9:56 a.m.; May 28, 1:43 p.m.; and May 31, 6:15 p.m. At press time, PEP has received no reply.

ANNABELLE RAMA HAS NO COMMENT. On Tuesday, June 1, PEP tried to get the reaction of the Gutierrez family on the latest developments.

Since Richard Gutierrez is currently in Los Angeles and since the protocol with the star is that media questions are coursed through his manager, we attempted to get in touch with Annabelle Rama, the star's manager and mother.

We asked PEP contributing writer and blogger Jojo Gabinete to forward six questions to Ms. Rama. The questions, put together by PEP managing editor Karen Pagsolingan, were contained in a text message.

Here is PEP's full text message to Ms. Rama:

Good afternoon, Ms. Annabelle. Gusto sanang kunin ng PEP ang panig niyo tungkol sa kaso ni Richard. Heto po ang mga tanong: (1) Ano po ba ang estado nito? Ayon kasi sa dokumento na nakuha namin mula sa Silang, Cavite Municipal Circuit Trial Court, ipinalipat na ang kaso sa Tagaytay? (2) Umaangal ang kabilang kampo sa paglabas-labas ng bansa ni Richard kasi naka-bail daw po ito. Ano ang masasabi niyo? (3) Sasampahan din daw po ng kaso ang law firm bunsod sa pagdadahilan nila para di matuloy ang arraignment ni Richard? (4) Mali-mali raw ang basehan ng DOJ sa pag-dismiss ng kaso ni Richard? Sana mabigyang linaw na ng inyong kampo ang mga isyung ito. Salamat.

Gabinete says he relayed these questions to the Gutierrez matriarch on the night of June 1. On the afternoon of June 2, we received news that Annabelle Rama received all our questions, but has refused to comment on the case.