Makati leaders ask Sandigan to suspend Binay over graft raps

Makati City’s civic and political leaders led by former vice mayor Roberto Brillantes urged the Sandiganbayan yesterday to suspend Mayor Jejomar Binay and other city officials who were recently indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman for graft.

Binay, his wife Elenita, and nine other people are accused of skimming money from purchases of office furniture for the Makati City Hall from 1999 to 2001 that totaled over P230 million.

The cost of the purchases was allegedly bloated and the transactions were found questionable because the companies from which the furniture were bought were suspected to be violating laws that restrict foreign ownership of businesses.

"The long arm of the law has finally caught up with Jojo Binay," said Brillantes, who filed the graft complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman in 2003.

Aside from Binay and his wife Elenita, other city officials accused of graft were former councilor Salvador Pangilinan, city administrator Nicanor Santiago Jr., former city treasurer Luz Yamane, general services department chief Ernesto Aspillaga, and all the members of the bidding committee.

Several officials of two companies from which the furniture were purchased were also indicted: Beda Aquino, chairman and chief executive office of Asia Concept International, Inc., Asia Concept corporate officer Bernadette Aquino, Office Gallery International Inc. officers Li Yu Shing, Jason Li and Vivian Edurise.

Brillantes has asked Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to suspend Binay and his co-accused.

"Mayor Binay has been getting away with crimes year after year for about 20 years now by defrauding the city government of millions of pesos as manifested in so many Commission on Audit (COA) audit reports. Binay and his cohorts must be suspended immediately to prevent them from further looting Makati’s public funds, harassing and intimidating witnesses and tampering with official records."

Brillantes filed a complaint in 2003 after a 2002 COA report had uncovered that the cost of furniture was padded by P110 million. There were also excess purchases totaling P56.047 million.

The furniture purchases started in 1999 during Elenita Binay’s stint as mayor. Four more purchases were made during Jejomar Binay’s administration.

Former police chief Manuel Cahanding, president of the Makati Police Retirees Association, and Feliciano Bascon Jr., former president of the Association of Barangay Captains, lauded Gutierrez for filing the case before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court.

"Binay should now realize that he is not above the law and must pay for the crimes he has committed against the people of Makati," Bascon said.

Acting deputy prosecutor Wendel Barreras-Sulit said that the transactions were "excessive both in price and quantity resulting in undue injury to the government."

Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro endorsed Sulit’s recommendation which was then approved by Gutierrez.