New witness: All Makati biddings under Binays rigged
Video by INQUIRER.net’s Ryan Leagogo
MANILA, Philippines—A new witness who claimed to have received a monthly “allowance” of up to P500,000 from Vice President Jejomar Binay told a Senate investigation Thursday that biddings in Makati City under the Binays were all rigged.
Ernesto Aspillaga, a former councilor and member of the city’s bidding awards committee, said public biddings in the city ruled by the Binay family since 1986 were just a “moro-moro” (for show).
Former councillor and head of General Services Department Head of Makati Ernesto Aspillaga. INQUIRER.net/RYAN LEAGOGO
“Aaminin ko po iyon ay isang bidding-biddingan lang o moro-moro… (I have to admit they were just a mock bidding),” Aspillaga said, responding to queries of Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV.
The Senate blue ribbon committee is investigating the alleged overpriced construction in 2007 of the Makati City car park. The building was worth P2.3 billion but complainants said the cost should have only been P245.6 million, citing data from the National Statistics Office.
Aspillaga said that whenever he would receive a purchase request, there would be a note attached containing the name of the bidder who should “win.”
The note, he said, was written by Jejomar Binay, who that time was the mayor of Makati. He was the city’s chief executive from 1986 to 1998 and from 2011 to 2010.
Asked by Trillanes why he was certain the note was written by Binay, Aspillaga said he was familiar with the Vice President’s handwriting.
The alleged anomaly continued even during the term of Binay’s wife Elenita (1998-2001), and their son, incumbent Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Jun-Jun” Binay, who assumed the mayoral post in 2010 as his father won the vice presidential race.
Aspillaga, who also served as head of General Services Department Head of the Makati city government, said that as member of the city council, he was receiving a monthly allowance of P70,000 up to P90,000 during the mayoral term of Jejomar Binay.
But the amount, placed in a brown envelope, could even go as high as P300,000 to P500,000, Aspillaga said.
Aspillaga said he believed the money came from the Binay patriarch.
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