DOJ to look into Mercado’s reported communication with Reyeses

MANILA, Philippines - Former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado’s reported communication with former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his brother former mayor Mario Reyes when they were fugitives will be investigated since he is under the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).

However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not immediately make a parallel investigation on the report, which first came out in The STAR last week, according to Secretary Leila de Lima.

“I already told the WPP office to look if (those reports) have basis,” she told reporters yesterday.

“You know WPP matters are very sensitive. We cannot just act on the basis of certain reports that are unverified – unless we see something concrete and until we see something concrete.”

Vice President Jejomar Binay and some former whistle-blowers have called for an investigation on information that Mercado had been in contact with the Reyes brothers, the alleged brains in the 2011 killing of broadcaster Gerry Ortega during the three years that they were hiding in Thailand.

Sandra Cam, Whistleblowers Association of the Philippines president, has called for Mercado’s removal from the WPP.

“We are calling for his expulsion from the WPP of the DOJ because he was aiding and communicating with fugitives,” she said.

“And as far as I know witnesses under WPP are not supposed to use cellphones.”

Cam affirmed the information that the Philippine National Police (PNP) had received information that Mercado was in contact with the Reyeses while they were in hiding.

“I have A-1 information about that,” she said.

Mercado and the Reyeses came to know each other in the cockfighting circuit, Cam said.

“Joel Reyes and Vice Mayor Mercado have the same vice – sabong (cockfighting),” she said. “They are sabongeros. They are politicians who always gamble in sabong... It’s public knowledge that even the kristo (bet takers) know for a fact.”

Her group of whistle-blowers is supporting the call of Binay for a thorough investigation of the report, and that either the Senate or the House of Representatives should conduct it as she doubts the impartiality of a DOJ-led investigation, Cam said.

“There is a process before a witness can use a phone; there should be permission from the guard,” she said. “Does it mean he (Mercado) was allowed to use his phone by the DOJ? How was he able to contact the Reyes brothers while he was in the Senate?”

If De Lima would not remove Mercado from the WPP, she hopes the next justice secretary would, Cam said.

“I hope that the replacement of De Lima will be a true secretary of justice of the people – not just justice secretary of President Aquino,” she said.

Mercado is under WPP coverage due to his testimony in the Senate on corruption allegations against Binay and his family.

Mercado links Binay to another alleged anomaly

Vice President Binay is facing another complaint for plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Yesterday, Mercado linked him to an allegedly anomalous land deal between the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) and Alphaland Makati Place Inc. (AMPI) in 2011.

Binay was named respondent in the case in his capacity as BSP national president.

His co-respondents include 16 former and current BSP officials and members of the national executive board led by senior vice president Wendel Avisado and vice presidents for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao Del de Guzman, Arturo Umbac and Miguel de Jesus.

Mercado’s complaint accused Binay and the other BSP officials of selling the Malugay property in Makati for only P600 million despite its appraised value of P1 billion in 2005.

The BSP and Alphaland entered into a “sweetheart deal” in June 2011 despite full knowledge of the real value of the land, Mercado said.

“Respondent Binay dictates what he wants in the BSP. His co-respondents follow his every whim,” read the complaint.

He based his complaint on alleged personal knowledge and the testimonies of resource persons during the Senate investigation on his allegations.

During the investigation, Binay was accused of receiving P188.9 million in kickbacks from a land deal.

Alphaland denied the allegations and threatened to sue Mercado.

“Mr. Mercado’s claim that Vice President Binay received about P200 million from the transaction with Alphaland Makati Place Corporation is pure hearsay unless he can prove it with competent evidence,” Avisado told the Senate.

‘Mercado is the culprit’

Mercado, not Binay, should be charged over the allegedly anomalous land deal, Rico Quicho, the Vice President’s spokesman for political affairs, said yesterday.

“If there is someone to be charged over the Alphaland deal, it should be ex-vice mayor Mercado,” he said. – With Michael Punongbayan, Helen Flores