Businessman breaks silence, denies being Binay’s dummy

MANILA, Philippines - Businessman Tony Tiu yesterday broke his silence and dismissed allegations that he served as a “dummy” for Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“I am not a dummy. I am engaged in legitimate business here and abroad, primarily on agriculture. I made my fortune through sheer hard work and my determination to succeed,” Tiu said.

“If we really want to count the number of farmers we have been providing job and market, it will run into more that 100,000,” Tiu, executive chairman of AgriNurture Inc. (ANI), said in a statement released to the media.

Tiu said he would prove the allegations wrong when he appears before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, which is now conducting a hearing on Binay’s alleged unexplained wealth.

He said his primary source of income is exporting bananas, mangoes and coconut water.

“I have joint venture with China’s biggest agricultural firm Beidahuang in 2010. They have invested in developing hybrid rice in the Philippines to augment rice shortage. Over the years, Beidahuang has spent more than $10 million in the field of research and development.”

Tiu said he pioneered the use of post-harvest facilities, as well as the processing and marketing of coconut water and tamarind.

He added he helped market Philippine mangoes when nobody wanted to export the products at the height of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic.

He also helped banana farmers when Iran was facing sanctions from the US.

Tiu was dragged into the Senate probe when it was alleged that he served as the dummy owner for the Vice President of the farm in Rosario, Batangas.

He is the owner of the Sunchamp agri-nature farm also located in the Rosario farm.

In the Senate investigation, former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado had accused Tiu of serving as “dummy” to cover up Binay’s alleged ownership of the Rosario property.

In his statement, Tiu said he obtained a masters degree in Commerce (International Finance) from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia in 1999, and a BS Commerce degree in Management from De La Salle University, Manila in 1996.

He is also a candidate for a doctorate degree in Public Administration at the University of the Philippines and was one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines for 2011.

After obtaining his BS Commerce degree, Tiu worked in a small agriculture-based company and in 1997, founded ANI, the first agricultural company to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The company was initially involved in the trade of post-harvest agricultural machineries, but later diversified into various agro-commercial businesses, including the export of fruits and vegetables to China, Japan and Korea, as well as to the Middle East, North America, Europe and Australia.

Meanwhile, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) said yesterday the helicopter which Mercado claimed he used in taking pictures and videos of Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park in Rosario is allegedly owned by a financier of Liberal Party (LP) president Mar Roxas.

UNA interim secretary general JV Bautista told a morning television program that the helicopter, a Europcopter EC 130B-4, is owned by billionaire Salvador Zamora II, who has an interest in mining and said to be one of Roxas’ principal financiers, and Eric Gutierrez, Zamora’s partner.

Bautista said Gutierrez is also a mining business partner of Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice.

“Erice is in mining, his partner is Eric Gutierrez. Mr. Gutierrez and Mr. Buddy Zamora are the owners of this chopper. They paid for this flight. Buddy Zamora is a financier of Mar Roxas.”

Bautista also said Mercado lied before the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee last week when he said he was the one taking pictures and videos of the agricultural estate owned by Sunchamp.

In his testimony last week, Mercado claimed Binay owns the property but Tiu, had denied the allegation.

“The assessor’s office in Rosario also said they do not have records of properties in the name of Vice President Binay,” Bautista said.

He said Mercado was not on the flight and “he was lying when he said he was there.”– With Jose Rodel Clapano