Nancy Binay: Probe anomalous projects in other cities, too

Sen. Nancy Binay. INQUIRER.net/HOTARU NIITSU

MANILA, Philippines–Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV should also ask the Senate to probe allegedly questionable projects in other cities such as Taguig and Iloilo if he was really after reforms, Sen. Nancy Binay said on Monday.

She aired the challenge even as the Senate blue ribbon committee prepared to investigate on Wednesday two supposedly overpriced buildings in Makati City built when her father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, was still mayor and under the term of her brother, incumbent Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr.

Trillanes, who had sought the investigation, should not turn a blind eye to anomalous projects in other cities if he was really bent on improving the country’s laws, Senator Binay said.

“That’s not my advocacy, that’s his [Trillanes’] advocacy,” she told reporters.

She said an investigation into alleged anomalies in Taguig City would also be imbued with public interest since Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano is likewise eyeing the presidency. Cayetano’s wife Lani is the city’s current mayor while his brother Lino is the city’s representative.

It was recently reported in another newspaper that Taguig City bought multicabs that appeared to be overpriced.

Senator Binay also mentioned the Iloilo Convention Center as she questioned the competence of the National Statistics Office (NSO) to come up with an acceptable cost of a public building’s construction. She said the convention center’s construction expenses might not fall within the NSO’s estimates which were used as a basis for the resolution which claimed that the two Makati buildings were overpriced.

Trillanes and the Cayetanos belong to the Nacionalista Party which is expected to field its own standard bearer in 2016 against the Vice President who earlier announced his intention to seek the country’s highest post.

But Trillanes said it was Senator Binay who should file a resolution seeking an investigation if she has information about the alleged anomalies in Taguig.

It was not a matter on which he has information, he added, unlike the alleged overpricing of the Makati parking building which he had studied before he sought a Senate probe.

“If they have information or data, Sen. Nancy Binay can file the resolution. She’s also a Senator of the Republic. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve been able to research the carpark building which was why I filed the resolution,” he told reporters.

Mayor Binay has been invited to the Senate blue ribbon committee’s investigation on Wednesday, along with the complainants in the related plunder case against the Binays, several Commission on Audit officers and representatives from the construction industry, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III who is handling the probe.

Pimentel also said Mayor Binay should not prejudge the Senate’s impending investigation and should respect the legislators’ decision to delve into the matter which Trillanes earlier said was imbued with public interest because it involved a potential future President.

“I’m asking the mayor to also keep an open mind, not prejudge the investigation and not demand apologies this early. And he should, as mayor of Makati City, respect the opinion of elected Senators of the Republic to investigate this matter,” Pimentel told reporters, in response to an earlier statement from Mayor Binay that Trillanes should be ready with an apology in case the allegations are proven false.

Pimentel added that when Mayor Binay becomes a senator, he could vote against similar resolutions should he decide to do so.

He also said he would be willing to chair an investigation on alleged anomalies in Taguig if a resolution would be filed on the matter and if nobody was willing to head the probe.

Mayor Binay, meanwhile, said that Cayetano should be investigated since he had expressed his interest in seeking the presidency.

“Since Senator Trillanes has admitted he wants my father probed because he is a candidate for president then I suggest the good senator also probe his party mate to show that he is fair,” he said in a statement.–With Maricar Brizuela