UNA: Filipinos ‘weary’ of Senate probe vs Binays
MANILA, Philippines—Following the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigation on irregularities allegedly committed by Vice President Jejomar Binay, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) on Thursday said that Filipinos have grown tired of the “baseless” hearings.
“The public should already be weary with the repeated investigations on Vice President Jejomar Binay,” UNA interim secretary general JV Bautista said in a statement.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the deal between Alphaland Corp. and Boy Scouts of the Philippines for a one-hectare property in Makati was scrutinized, with former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado alleging that Binay pocketed kickbacks amounting to P651 million.
Bautista, who tagged the Senate subcommittee as an “inquisition panel,” said that the hearing failed to pin Binay on the accusations leveled against him.
“The long-winded investigation has become an inquisition panel that has unfortunately dug up nothing to prove the accusations against the Vice President, especially with the testimonies of Mr. Roberto Ongpin and Mr. Mario Oreta, who were directly involved in the deal. But it has revealed to the Filipino people what a big grandstanding liar the Senate’s chief witness Ernesto Mercado is,” he said.
The interim UNA secretary general also advised the members of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee to stop repeating “half-truths” and halt the Senate probe.
“We say the honorable members of the subcommittee will only be frustrated, unless they keep repeating half-truths and pure lies. The public can see through the ruse. Sa Tagalog, gasgas na ’yong mga kasinungalingan nila,” Bautista said.
“We call on the subcommittee to stop spending more of the people’s money in these baseless investigations. There are other better ways of improving your image before the voting public than destroying the honor of other officials.”
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