Lawyer claims vehicles from Binay overpriced

CEBU CITY—A detractor of Vice President Jejomar Binay announced here he would file more graft cases against the Vice President for acts committed while Binay was still mayor of Makati City.

Among these, said lawyer Renato Bondal, is the purchase of vehicles that Binay gave several local government units in Cebu province as gifts of Makati City under sister city and sister town agreements.

Bondal, in a statement quoting him at a forum in this city, said the vehicles, known as multicabs, cost only P85,000 each but were bought by Binay for P230,000 each.

Gifts to Cebu LGUs

“The minicabs were given as gifts to Cebu LGUs … without them knowing that the vehicles were overpriced,” Bondal told reporters at a news forum held here at Marco Polo Plaza hotel.

“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” said Bondal.

Bondal did not divulge the name of the vehicle supplier based in Cebu.

In a statement, the camp of Binay said all the projects being cited by Bondal, including the purchase of multicabs, had passed Commission on Audit scrutiny.

“Makati decided to purchase multicabs from Cebu because Makati believes in the quality of Cebu-made vehicles,” said the statement.

“We could have bought foreign-made ones but Makati believes in Cebu and Cebu manufacturers and the skills of Cebuano workers,” it added.

Bondal said more cases against Binay are forthcoming and denied he is being used by Binay’s political enemies.

He said he spent his own money for airfare to Cebu.

Hotel construction

Another case involving Binay, said Bondal, involved a hotel construction.

“We are now getting data from experts to bolster our complaint,” said Bondal here.

He said documents are being gathered for the other cases against Binay. “Why file in lump sum? It’s our choice,” said Bondal when asked why the cases would not be filed at the same time.

The Binay camp, in its statement, questioned the presence of Bondal in Cebu and his scheduled tour of Iloilo and other key cities in the Visayas in an apparent mission to campaign against Binay.

Backers

“There are obviously national-level backers behind him,” the Binay camp statement said.

Bondal, who lost to the Vice President’s son in the mayoral race in Makati in the May 2013 elections, denied he was on a road show to campaign against Binay.

“If I’m on a road show I could have brought members of my legal team, but I came only with my wife and my 2-year-old daughter,” he said.

Bondal reiterated that the Makati Parking Building was overpriced.

He said during Tuesday’s forum here that if the total project cost of P1.56 billion was divided among the structure’s 11 floors, each floor would cost P157 million.

The parking building project was started when the Vice President was Makati mayor and completed in 2010 during the term of his son. It was inaugurated in November 2013.