Binay camp: Blue Ribbon report farcical

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday claimed that the investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee on the corruption allegations against the vice president was "farcical."

The Senate panel recently submitted a partial committee report which recommends the filing of plunder charges against Binay and his son, dismissed Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin "Junjun" Binay Jr. in connection to the alleged overpriced construction of the Makati City Hall Building II.

READ: Blue Ribbon wants plunder charges vs Binays

"Panis na ang report na ito," Binay's spokesperson Joey Salgado said in a statement.

He claimed that Senate investigations against Binay were made in aid of demolition and not legislation.

"It just goes to show how farcical the whole proceeding has been," Salgado said.

Binay's spokesperson further claimed that the testimonies of the witnesses against Binay were false and that the report relied on incorrect methods and erroneous conclusions.

"In a court of law, the subcommittee’s partial report will be thrown out in its entirety, for relying on perjuries and hearsay from tainted witnesses," Salgado said.

He added that the testimony of Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson was not included in the report.

Singson earlier testified that a building’s price cannot actually be determined by merely using the floor area as the volume of materials in the actual bill of quantities must also be estimated.

Salgado explained that the committee report only relied on the construction floor area to arrive at the project cost, which the Supreme Court ruled as unreliable in determining overpricing.

The Blue Ribbon concluded its probe on the allegations against Binay after 25 hearings over 17 months.