Cayetano to businessmen: Change Makati by testifying

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano urged businessmen who have information on the allegedly rampant corruption in Makati City's procurement system to testify.

Cayetano said Saturday that businessmen should make themselves known to stop supposedly anomalous practices in the city since Vice President Jejomar Binay was its mayor.

"Businessmen who are in the known or [have] been whispering about [corrupt] practices not only in this city but in other cities, kung gusto niyo ng pagbabago, lumabas na kayo at mag-testify kayo," Cayetano said in a statement.

The senator's call was made after business owner and losing bidder Mario Lichauco Jr. appeared before the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing last Thursday on the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall II parking building.

Lichauco claimed he was trapped for two hours inside the City Hall's elevator on May 15, 2007 as he was about to submit bidding requirements. The incident caused him to miss the deadline and was consequently disqualified from the bidding.

Cayetano said he sought out Lichauco after the previous hearing to verify statements made by Mario Hechanova, former vice chair of the Makati bids and awards committee. Hechanova similarly claimed to have been stuck in an elevator as part of the alleged efforts to rig the bidding process in Makati.

Lichauco was the first contractor to have come forward and verified the claims made by Hechanova last week.

In previous hearings, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado admitted having benefited from transactions in the parking building project, and linked Binay to the scandal.

On Friday, the Department of Justice placed Mercado and two other potential witnesses in the plunder case against Binay under the witness protection program.