Graft accusations only hearsay – Binay

MANILA, Philippines - Accusations that he had pocketed commissions from an overpriced Makati City building project were “hearsay that will not stand in court,” Vice President Jejomar Binay said yesterday.

Answering the accusations against him for the first time, Binay said the project passed 10 audits by different groups over five years. Funding for the project, appropriated annually, was audited every year, he said.

In a live televised address before a crowd of supporters at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, Binay said his main accuser – former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado – was getting support from an “elitist politician” who wanted to put the Vice President down to prop up his own political ambition. He did not name the politician.

Mercado was vice mayor when Binay was the city’s mayor.

Contrary to rumors, Binay did not announce a breakaway from the administration. He has declared his intention to run for president in 2016, most likely under the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

The ruling Liberal Party (LP) is widely believed to be grooming as its standard bearer Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, whom Binay beat in the vice presidential race in 2010.

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who was demanding that Binay personally testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee to explain his side on the Makati building issue, has also declared his intention to run for president.

“The allegations that the bidding of the project was rigged are an open statement… not backed with documents,” Binay said.

“The allegations that the mayor also profited because the vice mayor (Mercado) admitted that he profited from the project are speculations. This is what we lawyers call hearsay,” he said.

Mercado testified recently before the Blue Ribbon committee that he delivered a bag to Binay containing the latter’s commission from the overpriced Makati City Hall building 2 project.

The vice president said Mercado’s allegations were not supported by evidence.

“Their allegations against me are not new. These kinds of lies are being peddled and revived by my political enemies every time there is an election,” Binay maintained.

“But the judgment of the people has echoed in Makati that the Binay’s kind of public service is dependable,” he said.

“The council looked for funding every year for the building that was constructed for five years. And for each year that portion of the building was finished, it underwent auditing of the Commission on Audit,” Binay said.

He said engineers, architects and surveyors and other experts conducted technical auditing of the project.

“For five years, 10 audits were made by these experts and they had not seen any anomaly from the project,” Binay said.

He said Mercado benefited from the same commission the vice mayor was talking about.

The vice president argued that his accusers based their allegations only on National Statistics Office (NSO) data.

“The NSO itself stated that the estimate is not the right basis, meaning this is not an evidence,” Binay said.

Value of hard work

Binay recalled that his parents died while he was still nine years old and his uncle took him in and raised him as his own.

He said his humble beginnings have taught him the value of hard work and of helping the poor.

Through hard work and perseverance, he finished his law studies at the University of the Philippines.

During martial law, Binay said he offered his services pro bono to farmers, carpenters, workers and fishermen.

He said he devoted his law career defending the oppressed during martial law.

“I never thought that my fight had stopped in the 1986 EDSA revolution,” he said.

He said the essence of the EDSA revolution is “giving convenience” to the people, especially the poor and the powerless.

Binay said he inherited a bankrupt Makati when he was appointed officer-in-charge in 1987.

He said that under his leadership, Makati became a premier commercial-residential enclave.

“All the projects under my administration went through proper study,” he said.

“The fight that I am facing right now is not only a fight of Jojo Binay. This is a fight for the country. This is a fight for the entire Filipino people. This is a fight for our fellow Filipinos who have not yet been part of present economic progress,” Binay said.

He also challenged his detractors to face him in clean and honest elections instead of engaging in mudslinging.

“Let us stop lies. Let us face each other in fair and clean elections,” Binay said.

As the country’s “housing czar,” Binay said it his duty to ensure that each Filipino has a house he can call his own.

Meanwhile, lawyer JV Bautista said Binay need not attend the next hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the Makati building controversy because the Office of the Ombudsman is already investigating the matter.

“The case is already with the ombudsman. No need to go to the Senate,” Bautista said when asked if Binay would show up at the next hearing on the issue.

“The two senators should not hear the case in a circus investigation,” Bautista said, referring to Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV.

For his part, Binay’s spokesman for political concerns Jonvic Remulla said they are not worried at all by the increasing attack against Binay and his family. “We are not afraid because the truth is on our side,” Remulla said.