Binay snubs Senate probe, flies to Cebu

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Vice President Jejomar Binay went to Cebu on Thursday and snubbed the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the corruption allegations against him.

According to a live report on ANC, Binay is now in Cebu for official engagements, including interviews with local radio stations and a visit to Toledo City.

Binay is also expected to meet with business and government leaders and attend tomorrow the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) Centennial Jamboree in Cebu City.

The ANC report said Binay would be staying in Cebu until Saturday.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, Blue Ribbon Committee chair, invited Binay to the hearing. He regretted Binay's failure to attend the Senate probe despite the Blue Ribbon Committee's assurance that he will be treated with respect and fairness.

Binay sent his allies, Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco and lawyer JV Bautista,  who tried to submit his affidavit and a letter explaining his absence.

In his letter, Binay said he decided not to attend the hearing because of the unfair treatment given to his allies and some resource persons in the past hearings.

Binay is being investigated in connection with the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall II parking building and other projects that he supposedly profited from.

He has been accused of using dummies to conceal his alleged ill-gotten wealth, including a 350-hectare property in Rosario, Batangas.

Binay has refused to attend the hearings held by a Senate Blue Ribbon Sub-Committee, calling it a "kangaroo court." He believes that Sens. Alan Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV have already prejudged him.

His camp earlier said that he will appear at the Senate only upon the invitation of the mother Blue Ribbon Committee.

Trillanes said they would grill Binay for at least six hours if shows up. But  even with his absence, the senator said the investigation will still continue.

"What he does or will not do, siya ang accountable doon, si Vice President Binay," Trillanes said in a televised press conference on Wednesday. "Kapag hindi siya magpakita, ibig sabihin hindi mo talaga mapagkakatiwalaan itong taong ito."

Earlier this week, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco of the United Nationalist Alliance claimed in an interview on ANC that Binay was planning to attend the Senate hearing.

Tiangco, however, has been dissuading Binay from facing the Senate, saying he has nothing to gain from it.