Cayetano, Trillanes want Binay probe to continue

MANILA, Philippines - The investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee into allegations of corruption against Vice President Jejomar Binay could not yet be concluded, according to the two senators leading the inquiry.

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said they have to conduct several more hearings to cover more issues.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Thursday said the Blue Ribbon subcommittee could close its hearings and endorse its findings to the Office of the Ombudsman.

But Trillanes said that the subcommittee had sent the pieces of evidence they have gathered in the past 12 hearings to the ombudsman.

“The ongoing Senate investigation is not in any way delaying the cases filed with the ombudsman… the focus has shifted to other anomalies committed by former and current city hall officials of Makati, hence, the need to continue with the investigation,” he said.

Trillanes earlier said there would be at least five more hearings to cover the other infrastructure projects of the city government of Makati.

Apart from the parking building, the subcommittee has taken up the Makati Science High School building and would still look into the nursing building, the Makati City Hall building, Ospital ng Makati and Friendship Suites.

“I respectfully disagree it’s time to wrap up the hearings because there is still a lot of evidence out there and the Makati City officials themselves will not submit them,” Cayetano said.

“This is important because it will show a pattern and it will show that if it can be done in Makati, it can also be done in the rest of the country,” he added.

Cayetano said they are almost 80 percent done with the hearings, adding that lack of cooperation by the camp of Binay is delaying the investigation.