Video by INQUIRER.net’s Ryan Leagogo
MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay can be assured of fair treatment should he appear at the inquiry into the alleged overpriced parking building in Makati City, a senator said.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said the Vice President should expect the same treatment that was accorded his son, Makati Mayor Jejomar “Jun-jun’’ Binay Jr., in last Wednesday’s first hearing on the controversial P2.3 billion building.
Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
While the Blue Ribbon sub-committee has yet to decide whether to invite the vice president, Pimentel underlined the necessity of hearing the elder Binay’s testimony.
Pimentel, chairman of the Blue Ribbon sub-committee, said the elder Binay was mayor when construction of the 11-story, 31,900-square meter building began in 2007, and that even his own son deferred to him on the matter.
“We treated the mayor fairly, and the assistant city engineer, all the more the vice president,” Pimentel said in a telephone interview. “We wanted a fair fight, a fair exchange, and a fair determination of on whose side the truth is.”
The vice president has accused the senators of politicking, specifically referring to Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV, who he said were presidential aspirants. Binay has said he would be running for president in 2016.
Pimentel said that if the allegations turn out to be baseless, he would stop the inquiry.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Mayor Binay justified the high cost of the parking building, claiming it was “world-class” and the city’s version of a “green building.”
The mayor presented a Commission on Audit evaluation report clearing it of any overprice, but top COA officials insisted this was not final.
COA Chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan told the committee she had noticed “red flags,” including the fact that the project had been divided into five phases, each with a separate contract, and the contracts were swiftly awarded to one contractor only.
A plunder case filed by Renato Bondal and Nicolas Enciso against their political rivals Mayor Binay and the vice president over the allegedly overpriced building has prompted senators to call for a hearing.
Pimentel said he would confer with fellow senators on whether to invite the vice president toward the end of the next hearing next Tuesday.
“Let all the evidence come in before we decide whether to invite him,” he said, noting that some new witnesses, including Vice Mayor Romulo Peña Jr. and former Vice Mayor Nestor Mercado, will be appearing.
If he had his way, Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the sub-committee should no longer invite the vice president.
“I think that’s no longer necessary. If they have other questions, they can ask the COA. What will he say, yes or no? It will just be a media event,” he said in a telephone interview.
Bondal claimed that the building, for which P2.7 billion was allocated, cost P45,000 per sq m. In contrast, the 46-story Shang Grand Tower cost P2 billion, or P40,000 per sq m, and the 57-story Greenbelt Residences, P2.8 billion or P45,000 per sq m.
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