Sandiganbayan dismisses graft case vs former VP Binay, son
Former Vice President Jejomar Binay (right) and his son, former Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan dismissed the graft and falsification cases filed against former Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay, his son dismissed Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay, and 16 others concerning the construction of the Makati Science High School building.
In a resolution dated December 2024, the anti-graft court’s Special Fifth Division granted the demurrer to evidence filed by the former vice president, his son, and other accused.
The court also dismissed the 13 Information documents filed against them for “insufficiency of evidence.”
READ: Binay father, son charged anew with graft, falsification
According to Section 23 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, a demurrer to evidence is the power of the court to dismiss the case due to a lack of sufficient evidence from the prosecution after they rest their case.
Article continues after this advertisementFollowing the dismissal, the Sandiganbayan ordered the return of the accused’s bail bonds.
Article continues after this advertisementBased on the resolution, the 13 information documents were lodged by the Office of the Special Prosecutor on March 8, 2018.
Sandiganbayan said the criminal cases stemmed from complaints filed by the Field Investigation Office of the Office of the Ombudsman on June 18, 2015.
The first complaint involved the alleged irregularities in the procurement of architectural and engineering services for the Makati Science High School building and its dormitory amounting to P17.46 million.
Meanwhile, the second complaint was about the purported irregularities in the procurement for the school’s six construction phases amounting to P1.336 billion.
Although cases related to the complaints were dismissed, the Binays are still facing separate graft and falsification charges before the anti-graft court’s Third Division in relation to the Makati City Hall carpark project worth P2.2 billion.
