The office of Tonisito M.C. Umali, Esq., the legal counsel and spokesperson of Krista Ranillo and her family, sent Manila Bulletin Online this statement on the Manny Pacquiao-Krista Ranillo issue, titled, “RANILLO FAMILY’S OFFICIAL MEDIA STATEMENT ON DAUGHTER KRISTA RANILLO’S ALLEGED INAPPROPRIATE RELATIONSHIP WITH MANNY PACQUIO” and signed by Mat Ranillo III, Krista’s father.

“Our family is deeply saddened by the continuing negative publicity being hurled upon us as a result of the alleged inappropriate relationship of Ms. Krista Ranillo with Mr. Manny Pacquiao. We are also extremely alarmed by the death threats that our family has received from some unknown individuals who are claiming that such inappropriate relationship exists.

We appeal to our media to exercise balance, fairness and accuracy in their reporting.

Our family categorically denies that any inappropriate relationship exists between Manny Pacquiao and Ms. Krista Ranillo. We thought that our silence will stop all these lies being peddled in the Philippine media by some unscrupulous people. We were wrong.

Ms. Krista Ranillo is just working hard to make a good name in her acting career. Ms. Krista Ranillo and our family are the real victims of this very biased and unfair reporting by our Philippine media. We do not deserve this.

To protect our interest on this matter, we have engaged the services of Atty. Tonisito Umali, a Philippine and Californian lawyer, to serve as our counsel and spokesperson. We have also requested Mr. Umali to do the following:

1. Study all the negative publicity shown in Philippine T.V. talk shows and news programs and published in major newspapers to determine whether any of our rights as individuals are violated and/or whether such materials are considered unprotected speech or libelous.

2. Study the derogatory and untruthful comments made by Ms. Gina Alajar in her Facebook (and published in major newspapers and shown in major TV shows) and other media personalities to determine whether such comments are considered unprotected speech or libelous.

3. Perform all legal acts necessary to protect our rights, interests and reputation in light of this negative publicity.

We will not hesitate to take legal action if the media personalities involved would continue to maliciously malign the good name of the Ranillo family.

So as not to jeopardize our attorney’s efforts to study the legal implications of this negative publicity to our individual’s rights, we will not issue any further statement unless otherwise advised by our counsel.”