UNA scores Senate for turning Binay probe into demolition job

UNA secretary general Toby Tiangco. SENATE POOL FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) scored the Senate for launching a smear campaign against Vice President Jejomar Binay in their probe on an alleged overpriced Makati parking building involving him.

In a statement on Thursday, UNA secretary general and Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco took a swipe at a senator who supposedly turned the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing into a “demolition” job.

“It was not a hearing in aid of legislation. It was in aid of demolition and the political ambitions of some senators who style themselves as graft busters when they themselves cannot claim to be lily white,” Tiangco said.

The probe stemmed from a plunder complaint filed against Vice President Binay and his son Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. in connection with a parking lot built in 2007 when VP Binay was mayor.

According to the complaint, the building was worth P1.56 billion but based on National Statistics Office data on the average cost of the construction of commercial buildings, the cost should have been at P245.6 million that year.

Tiangco took a swipe at senators who were lawyering for the complainant during the hearing – Atty. Renato Bondal, who ran against Mayor Binay in 2013 but lost.

Tiangco said one senator, whose appearances in television advertisements failed to improve his ratings in surveys, used the hearing to have free airtime.

“’Yung isa kasing senador ilang buwan nang lumalabas ang paid TV ads niya, bumaba pa sa survey imbes na tumaas (One such senator has been appearing in paid TV ads, and yet his ratings went down instead of up),” Tiangco said.

Tiangco did not mention any names. But present in the hearing is Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who has been appearing in a Taguig promotional advertisement. The senator called to appear in the probe Vice President Binay, who has expressed his interest to run for president in 2016.

“In this hearing , you’ll be satisfied that we all treated you  fairly but I hope you understand, mayor, if your father wants be president just like anyone of us in this room, anything na ibato sa atin obligasyon natin sa tao na sagutin at hindi sabihin, pulitika lang ito..(anything that will be thrown at us, it’s our obligation to the people to answer and not say this is just politics),” Cayetano had told the younger Binay in the probe.

“Ang maliwanag sa ‘hearing’ kahapon ay may mga taong gagawin ang lahat maabot lang ang kanilang political ambition. Gagamitin pati ang Senado para lang manira nang ibang tao,” Tiangco said.

(What is clear during the “hearing” is that there are those who would do anything just so they could achieve their political ambition, even to the point of using the Senate to destroy the reputation of other people.)

The resolution for the probe was filed by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Both Cayetano and Trillanes belong to the Nacionalista Party and are also reportedly eyeing a higher post in 2016.

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