P1,000 Makati cakes just a 'guess' - Bondal

MANILA, Philippines - The lawyer who filed a plunder complaint against Vice President Jejomar Binay admitted on Tuesday that he just guessed the amount of the alleged overpriced birthday cakes given to the senior citizens of Makati City.

"'Yun po ay hula lang namin," lawyer Renato Bondal told Senator Vicente Sotto III during the televised Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee hearing on the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall II parking building that resumed earlier this morning.

During the first hearing last week, Bondal alleged that the cakes provided to senior citizens in Makati cost more than P1,000.

Makati City administrator Eleno Mendoza belied Bondal's claims, saying the cakes were only worth P306.75 each.

Mendoza and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin "Junjun" Binay said they will submit documents to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to prove that the buildings and the cakes were not overpriced.

Citing "personal reasons," the younger Binay did not attend Tuesday's Senate hearing and sent his department heads instead.