Binay posts bail for graft, malversation raps over car park

Former vice president Jejomar Binay posts P376K bail in Makati car park case at the Sandiganbayan. He is accompanied by lawyer Estelito Mendoza RAFFY LERMA

Even before a warrant was issued for his arrest, former Vice President Jejomar Binay posted bail on Friday a day after he was indicted for graft and malversation in connection with irregularities in the construction of the P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II.

He appeared before the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division at 2 p.m. to complete the paperwork for his temporary liberty, along with his lawyers and fellow respondents in the graft cases, including his son, former Makati Mayor Erwin “Junjun” Binay.

READ: Binay posts P376-K bail in Makati car park case

Escorted by security aides, the Binays avoided the cameras as they strode into the office of the clerk of court for the booking procedure, including fingerprinting and payment of bail.

The Office of the Ombudsman set the bail for Binay and his fellow respondents at P40,000 for each count of graft, P30,000 for malversation and P24,000 for each count of falsification of public documents.

The amounts added up to P376,000 for Binay, who was indicted on four counts of violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, one count of malversation and nine counts of falsification.

READ: Ex-VP Binay faces trial over P2-billion car park

The new set of cases against the Binays was assigned to the Third Division, the same court hearing a separate set of charges filed against the younger Binay and several  former Makati officials involved in the bidding and construction of the Makati car park.

The anti-graft tribunal opted not to include the set of 14 cases against Binay in the weekly raffle of newly filed cases as these stemmed from the same information in the charges against his son.

On Thursday, Binay, his son and several former Makati officials were indicted on charges of rigging the bidding processes for the design and construction of the Makati car park.

Construction of the P2.28-billion parking building began  in 2007 when Binay was still mayor of Makati but was completed in 2013, after Junjun took over. The latter was later dismissed and disqualified from public office because of the charges.

The older Binay was charged with involvement in the initial phases of the project and the younger Binay in the later stages.

In a statement, Binay’s legal counsel Daniel Subido said Binay was “eager to go to court to prove the grave abuses of the Ombudsman and have these frivolous cases dismissed.”

The lawyers said the Ombudsman violated the former Vice President’s constitutional rights in filing the case as no specific act in the charge sheet constituted a crime besides “a tenuous conclusion of conspiracy.”

“Even the prosecutors of the Ombudsman sought clarification from the latter regarding the previous cases filed against the Makati officials. This shows the sloppiness of the work done by the Ombudsman in her attempt to maliciously indict the Binays by way of trial by publicity,” he said.

He noted that the Commission of Audit has not issued—for nearly a decade—any audit observation memo or disallowances on the payments made over the project. RAM/rga