MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay strongly denied on Tuesday pocketing money from any projects in Makati City, especially the controversial parking building, which is the subject of ongoing investigation in the Senate.
“I swear by God and the people that I have not received nor asked money for this project or any other project in Makati,” Binay said in a statement.
The Vice President was reacting to former Makati City Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado’s statement during Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee that he had benefitted from the allegedly overpriced parking building.
Mercado himself admitted that he benefitted from the project when he was still vice mayor of the city. If he gained from it, then he was almost certain that the Vice President, who was then city mayor, also gained from it.
But Binay said Mercado’s allegations were all false and baseless.
“All that Mr. Mercado said are lies. He has been making these baseless allegations since 2010 when he ran and lost. The people of Makati know him as a liar and fabricator of stories,” he said.
“If Mr. Mercado admitted that he received kickbacks from the Makati Building 2 project, it is only right that he be charged by the authorities. Nevertheless, Mr. Mercado conceded that his accusations against me are mere conjecture and speculation.”
“But in the face of Mr. Mercado’s admission that he pocketed money from the project, some senators wish to coddle and protect him. This saddens me,” the Vice President said.
Binay said it was unfortunate that the Senate was being used to malign his name and that of his family’s to advance personal ambition. He then noted that some senators had publicly announced their intentions to run either for vice president or president in 2016.
He said he has been closely observing the proceedings at the Senate and by now, he said, it was clear that the investigation would “never be fair and impartial.”
Even before the investigation some senators have already passed judgment based on the mere say-so of our opponents and without any shred of concrete evidence presented,” he pointed out.
“One of them even admitted that the investigation was due to my plans to run for president. It is therefore clear that the motive is politics,” he added.
Until now, however, Binay said the findings of the Commission on Audit that there was no overpricing have not been disputed.
The Vice President promised that he would answer all “these baseless allegations point for point.”
“You may also rest assured that whatever baseless allegations they make, I shall continue serving you and promoting programs that will improve your lives,” he added.
Originally posted at 05:29 pm | August 26, 2014
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