Atty. Renato Bondal. INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
MANILA, Philippines–The allegation that Makati City’s cakes given out to senior citizens celebrating their birthdays were overpriced at P1,000 each seemed to have fizzled out on Tuesday when Renato Bondal admitted that he just “guessed” the figure.
Bondal, a political rival of the Binays, last week told a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee that even the cakes were not spared from the alleged practice of overpricing attending Makati’s big-ticket infrastructure projects. He even brought a sample to the hearing.
Bondal is the complainant in a plunder case against Vice Mayor Jejomar Binay and Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay for the alleged overpricing of a P2.3-billion parking building.
But on Tuesday, when Sen. Vicente Sotto III asked him about his basis for the cake overprice allegation, he said the P1,000 price was his own guesswork.
“Iyon po’y hula lang namin (That is just our guess),” he said.
He also said nobody in Makati knew the actual price of the cakes, and wanted help from the Senate to subpoena the vouchers and checks for the cakes.
He earlier said in an interview that he had received information from sources that the price of the cake reached P1,000, more expensive than Goldilocks’ and Red Ribbon’s cakes of similar size, which cost only P570 and P590, respectively.
Cups and Mugs
Makati City officials have explained that the cakes, supplied by Cups and Mugs Kitchenette, cost only P306.75. The new price was for 9-inch cakes procured starting November 2013. Before that, it cost P180 because the cakes then were smaller.
Senators on Tuesday asked Makati City officials to submit documents pertaining to the cake-giving program, including the actual number of senior citizens in Makati and the number receiving the gift.
The cake issue was revived on Tuesday when former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado claimed that Sen. Nancy Binay was involved in supplying the cakes. She did not bake the cakes herself but had handled the supply of the cakes, Mercado alleged.
Mercado, a former political ally of the Vice President, said it was Senator Binay, as then technical assistant of her mother Elenita when she was mayor, who could answer how many benefited from the cake program.
Behind cakes
He added that everybody in Makati knew it was Nancy Binay, before she ran for public office, who was behind the cakes.
But the senator has denied being the cake supplier and reiterated it in a statement on Tuesday.
“I have never been involved and will never be involved in any activity that violates rules on conflict of interests, particularly in businesses relating to the Makati City government and/or the national government,” she said.
Can’t bake
She does not know how to bake and has no bakeshop, the senator said. She would not have supplied cakes to Makati City Hall because it was prohibited, she added.
She also said her father had trusted Mercado and treated him like a brother, but he abused her father’s trust.
She said it appeared she was now the next member of her family being targeted by a demolition job.
Meanwhile, Makati Rep. Abigail Binay on Tuesday tried to meet with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to confront him about his statements that she was behind the plunder case filed against him and his wife, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano.
But Senator Cayetano proved elusive and Representative Binay left the Senate without meeting with him.
She said she could no longer see him because he apparently left the Senate after attending the blue ribbon subcommittee hearing.
Rep. Binay emotional
Representative Binay turned emotional as she explained why she wanted to talk to the senator, saying she was hurt by his claims especially since she had considered the Cayetanos her friends.
“I was surprised why he was linking me to the plunder case. We’re friends. He could’ve called me,” she said.
She admitted that the complainant in the plunder case had been her classmate but it did not mean she had urged him to file the case.
“Am I guilty by mere affiliation?” she said.
‘Sister’
She also said she was so close to the Cayetanos that she even called Mayor Lani kapatid [sister], which was why she was hurt at the developments.
“I personally let them into my life. What they are doing to me is hurtful,” she said.
She said she was emotional because as a private person, she had a limited number of friends, and since her family has been in politics for a long time, she learned to distrust people but let the Cayetanos into her life.
“I guess [it was] lack of judgment on my part,” she added.
She also said she kept silent when the Cayetanos were attacking her family, but now that she was being targeted, she could no longer be silent.
Representative Binay said she had nothing bad to say about Mayor Lani Cayetano because the latter has a golden heart.
“I cannot say the same for Senator Cayetano,” she added.
She surmised that the senator’s anger could have been caused by rumors that she was going to run for Taguig mayor, which she said was unlikely since she was from Makati.–With Maila Ager
Originally posted: 12:33 pm | Tuesday, August 26th, 2014
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