Mike Defensor: Family no longer tied to raided hotel

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April 26, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Former lawmaker Mike Defensor asserted that his family had long divested its stake in the company operating the hotel that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided last Tuesday for allegedly recruiting and sexually exploiting women.

His wife and child, Julie and Michael Gabriel Defensor, are among 26 individuals charged with qualified trafficking and illegal possession of drugs after NBI agents rescued 54 women at the Chicago Nightclub in Pasig City.

The nightclub shares a building with Bleu Hotel, managed by Zerrin Development Corp., where Julie is listed as chairman and president and Michael Gabriel as treasurer.

Mike said his family gave up their roles in Zerrin and the hotel operations more than six years ago.

“We really had that hotel before and we were operating it, but in 2019, it was taken from us. Another group operated it and they’re paying the rental,” the former lawmaker told One News’ “The Big Story” on Friday night.

“All of that, we turned over to the new owners. It may have been registered under our name, but we weren’t involved anymore. Even if you look at Zerrin’s records, Julie has no income and no employees,” he explained.

Defensor said this was the third business linked to his family that authorities had shut down, though he did not provide details.

“The first is a family-owned business, which I divested from two or three years ago. My wife and my child ran it. It was closed and about 100 employees were involved there,” he said.

“Another company – I’m a very minority member, but they elected me as president, from which I resigned in January, they attacked and closed it,” he added.

Defensor, who has aligned himself with the Duterte opposition, urged authorities not to involve his family in political disputes.

“We know the parameters of the fight. We know that families and private interests cannot be included,” he said.

“(NBI director Melvin) Matibag hasn’t been in the position for one year, yet his attacks are left and right, not just on me but on all people, and I think that should be a cause for concern,” he added.

Echoing her husband’s statements, Julie also denounced what she described as a “relentless pattern of harassment” against her family, saying she and her child had become “collateral damage” due to her husband’s political stance.

“Because of these political attacks, approximately 1,000 hardworking employees across various companies have abruptly lost their jobs, simply due to a perceived association with my husband,” she said on Friday.

Matibag, however, dismissed Defensor’s claim that politics was behind the operation, stressing that they only discovered the hotel’s links to the Defensor family after the raid.

Instead of criticizing authorities, he said Defensor should welcome the operation.

“Shouldn’t Mike Defensor be glad that, as the owner of the place, it was used for wrongdoing by tenants and the NBI acted against it?” Matibag said. — Emmanuel Tupas