Junjun Binay: Foes staging a takeover

MANILA, Philippines - Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay on Tuesday said the filing of a plunder complaint against him, his father Vice President Jejomar Binay and several city officials is part of a takeover move by his political foes.

Binay said his foes intend to have him and the members of the Makati City council suspended over the complaint and then stage the takeover by placing in control their allies from the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Liberal Party (LP) who are also the Binays’ political enemies, including incumbent Vice Mayor Romulo “Kid” Peña, who is a member of the LP.

“Their plan is to have me and the entire City Council suspended, to pave the way for the designation of their LP ally as acting mayor. The City Council will now be filled with NP, LP and other characters who have not won a single election but may now be appointed, thereby subverting the will of the people of Makati,” Binay said.

“This is no different from the 2006 suspension of my father and the entire City Council ordered by the Arroyo regime to get back at my father for being the leader of the opposition,” he added.

Mayor Binay also lashed at his political detractors for apparently omitting from the list of evidence submitted to the Ombudsman an ordinance that included the names of their political allies as principal sponsors of an ordinance appropriating funds for the questioned Makati City Hall Building 2. 

Binay said complainants Renato Bondal and Nicolas “Ching” Enciso failed to provide the Ombudsman a copy of Makati City Ordinance 2008-035.

The ordinance, Binay said, was principally sponsored by several councilors, who included Romulo Peña, who was then the sectoral representative for the Liga ng mga Barangay, and then Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, a member of the NP.

The ordinance, Binay said, appropriated P2.26 billion from the approved Land Bank loans as supplemental budget for calendar year 2008 intended for various projects and plans.

Mayor Binay said the ordinance covered appropriations for the Makati City Hall Building 2, which is the subject of the plunder complaint filed by Bondal and Enciso.

Binay said Peña is a member of the LP while Mercado ran for Makati mayor in 2010 as the official candidate of the NP. Bondal also ran for mayor in 2013 as the official candidate of the NP. The Senate probe into the allegations of Bondal is being pushed by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, also a member of NP.

“The group of Bondal cannot say that their allies were merely presiding officers. The ordinance is very clear. Their names appeared as sponsors. By failing to include this ordinance among the pieces of evidence they submitted to the Ombudsman, our detractors are deliberately trying to mislead the public and the Ombudsman into thinking that the NP and LP in the City Council are not involved when the evidence points to the contrary,” Binay said.

The complaint uses as its basis construction data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) to allege that the Makati City Hall Building 2 is overpriced. However, Mayor Binay said the NSO had admitted that their data had limitations. The NSO said their computations were based on approved building applications and documentary requirements, and not on actual construction cost.

Binay added that the allegations of overpricing have already been refuted in an intensive investigation conducted by the Commission on Audit in February in response to a request made by the complainants. Moreover, the investigation process has started since the Ombudsman has asked the parties to comment.

Binay also earlier said Trillanes had already “prejudged the issue” and was apparently not interested in ferreting out the truth. He said it was apparent from the senator’s statements that he had made up his mind and intended to use the Senate hearing as “a platform to malign the name of the Vice President.”

The younger Binay has demanded “no less than a public apology” from Trillanes and the Senate committee tasked to conduct the probe once the allegations are proven to be false.