Senate OKs citing Binay son in contempt

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate has upheld the order issued by its Blue Ribbon committee to cite Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. and five others in contempt and compel them to attend today’s hearing on the allegedly overpriced parking building constructed by the city government.

The ruling was made after members of the Senate Committee on Rules met to discuss the issues raised by acting Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III about the validity of the meeting held by the Blue Ribbon committee on Monday and the order it subsequently issued against Binay and five others.

Last Monday, Sotto questioned the procedure taken by the committee headed by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III in coming out with the contempt and detention orders against Binay and the five others.

Sotto questioned the quorum during the meeting attended only by Guingona and Sens. Antonio Trillanes IV and Aquilino Pimentel III.

He questioned the arrest order because based on his own interpretation of the rules, a third of the total membership of the committee must be present to make such decisions.

Yesterday, Binay avoided arrest again after the Senate sergeant-at-arms failed to serve the warrant on him and the city officials at the end of office hours.

Speaking to some 4,000 cheering supporters at the Makati City Hall grounds, Binay said no arrest had been made, but that the City Administrator’s Office received a letter from the Senate asking for documents at around 5 p.m. yesterday.

He said he would refuse to attend the Senate hearing on the alleged overpriced city hall building.

“Tomorrow, another hearing will take place at the Senate,” he said in Filipino. “I would like to tell you that what they are doing is very unreasonable.”

Binay said the Commission on Audit (COA) did not find anything anomalous in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II.

“I continue to challenge COA to set up a special audit team,” he said in Filipino.

“Let’s be fair. In Taguig, COA saw a problem, but no special audit team has been set up until now. They must not be selective.”

He is still open to filing a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court (SC), Binay said.

VP’s press con canceled

Meanwhile, Vice President Jejomar Binay canceled his scheduled press conference yesterday on former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado’s latest corruption allegations against him involving the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and Pag-IBIG Fund.

In a statement, Binay’s spokesman for media affairs Joey Salgado said the Vice President canceled the press conference, which would have been held at the Office of the Vice President at the Coconut Palace in Pasay City, out of respect to the grieving families of the Special Action Force commandos killed in an ambush in Maguindanao, six of whom were his fraternity brothers in Alpha Phi Omega. – With Mike Frialde, Helen Flores