‘Tsinoy farm owner did business with Binays’

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano is not convinced with businessman Antonio Tiu’s denial of the allegation that he was a dummy of Vice President Jejomar Binay for the latter’s alleged vast business and real estate holdings.

Cayetano said it was no mere coincidence that Tiu, who says he owns the 350-hectare estate in Rosario, Batangas where Binay operated a farm, was also behind a questionable transaction with the city government of Makati years ago when the Vice President’s wife was mayor.

In her testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee last week, Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Heidi Mendoza revealed that several medical equipment purchased by the Makati City government for the Ospital ng Makati in 2000 and 2001 were overpriced by more than P61 million.

Mendoza said among the overpriced items were hospital beds purchased from Mabuhay 2000 Enterprises Inc.

In last Wednesday’s hearing, Cayetano revealed that Mabuhay 2000 was formerly AgriNurture Inc., both owned by Tiu.

Mendoza, in her report, said 172 regular hospital beds were overpriced by close to P24 million. ICU beds were overpriced by P510,876.24 each, according to Mendoza.

She added that orthopedic beds were also overpriced by P455,912.64 per unit.

“According to the COA report of Commissioner Mendoza, Mr. Tiu verbally admitted that they were the ones who supplied the hospital beds for OsMak,” Cayetano said. “Why has the supply of beds become a line of agri-tourism business?”

Former Makati City vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, once a Binay ally, testified that the 350-hectare estate in Rosario, Batangas was actually owned by the Binays and that Tiu merely served as a dummy for the family.

The property was called the SunChamp Agri-Tourism Park, which was named after SunChamp Real Estate Development where Tiu was chief executive officer.

SunChamp eventually became Greenergy Holdings Inc, which is still owned by Tiu.

According to the camps of Binay and Tiu, the family of the Vice President merely leased nine hectares of the agri-tourism park for a piggery and flower farm.

“Is this just a mere coincidence? The link of Mr. Antonio Tiu to the Binay family is very clear. They go way back. How else can the Vice President and his spokesmen explain this?” Cayetano said.

“When you’re a public official, you put the interests of Filipino families above yourself and your family. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the VP and his family,” he added.

“Money kept by the Binays could have been spent for education, medicine and roads,” he said.

DOJ interest aroused

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said details about Binay’s wealth divulged by Mercado during last Wednesday’s Senate hearing have aroused her interest.

De Lima said her department is likely to join the Office of the Ombudsman in the conduct of inquiry into the assets of the Vice President.

“Ordinarily, it’s a separate (investigation) but there’s a point where it can be consolidated,” De Lima said, referring to the ombudsman’s own probe. She was at the Senate for the hearing on the DOJ’s P1.1-billion allocation for 2015.

“The more we are interested to look into this. All of it, including the mansion and on the aspects of overpricing,” De Lima added.

De Lima cited as a precedent the joint investigation conducted by the DOJ and the ombudsman regarding the plunder cases involving suspended Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.

Interviewed after the hearing, De Lima shielded Mercado from criticisms on why he was allowed to take aerial pictures of the alleged Binay estate from a helicopter.

“It’s part of the arrangement with the WPP,” she said, apparently referring to the gathering of evidence by witnesses. WPP stands for witness protection program.

It was Mercado who provided the Senate with details on how money had supposedly changed hands between the Binays and contractors in connection with building projects in the city.

According to De Lima, the former vice mayor – whom she finds a reliable whistle-blower – did not seek permission from her when he gathered “evidence” against the Vice President in connection with the latter’s alleged vast property in Rosario.

De Lima explained that while Mercado is now under the WPP, he can be allowed from time to time to get out of his safe house to bolster his testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee.

“It would be unreasonable not to allow him, especially if his justification is to find more evidence to support his testimony,” she said.

Mercado, however, has revealed to the media that he goes around with bodyguards and is not actually staying in a government safe house.

NBI help

De Lima also said her office is coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to locate the personalities who are now subject of subpoena by the Senate.

The Senate has tapped the NBI to find Binay’s alleged finance officer Gerardo Limlingan as well as Erlinda Chong, Marguerite Lichnock, Kimsfer Chong, Kim Tung Chong, Irene Chong, Imee Chong, Irish Chong, who are incorporators of Meriras Realty and Development Corp..

De Lima also warned Mercado and other witnesses under the WPP to follow the rules imposed by the unit to ensure their safety.

“At first we warned them to avoid unnecessary activities because of the danger. So it’s your choice, many witnesses follow the rules. There are also those who do not obey the rules, and there are some problematic ones,” De Lima said.

“There are also violations, which when resolved resulted in the termination of the coverage under the WPP. That’s very clear under the law and the IRR (implementing rules and regulations),” she said.

De Lima said she would not want any of the witnesses to suffer the fate of Alfred Mendiola, who was killed in an ambush in Bulacan. Mendiola was under the WPP but he escaped his security detail only to get killed in an ambush in May 2012.

Mendiola was the principal witness in the carjack-slay of Venson Evangelista in January 2011.