‘Binay property holdings amount to millions’

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno fields questions from journalists at a press briefing in Intramuros, Manila, in the wake of attacks on the Supreme Court from the House of Representatives and President Aquino. RAFFY LERMA

HOORAY for Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for upholding judicial independence!

She should be praised for standing up to her erstwhile benefactor, President Noynoy.

The President appointed Sereno to the highest position in the judiciary thinking that she would toe the line, but he was wrong.

As expected of the Chief Justice in a democratic society, Sereno doesn’t see herself owing allegiance to the person who appointed her but to the country represented by the Constitution.

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Benigno Simeon Aquino is worse than Ferdinand E. Marcos when it comes to dealing with the Supreme Court.

We all know that the high court in Marcos’ martial rule was intimidated by his unlimited powers, and so made decisions pleasing to the dictator.

But Marcos made a show of deferring to the high court on significant issues. Because of this gesture, the majority of the citizens didn’t lose respect for the high court then.

Aquino has no respect for the Supreme Court at all since he thinks the Chief Justice and other justices he appointed to the august body should kowtow to him.

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If I were Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, on my own initiative, I would have my field investigation office (FIO) look into the extent of the wealth of Vice President Jojo Binay and his family.

The Office of the Ombudsman’s FIO investigates complaints of unexplained wealth by government officials.

When Raul Gonzalez was Tanodbayan, forerunner of the Ombudsman, he conducted investigations even on mere suspicion of irregularities by a government official or employee.

Now that the alleged corruption of the Binays—who have ruled Makati one after the other and who are in elective national offices—have been exposed, Morales can have her field investigators sniff around for their hidden wealth.

Investigators can start in Batangas province, Malinao, Albay province and Makati City where the Binays reportedly have many property holdings.

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The Binays have been on a buying spree of real estate properties in the places mentioned soon after they came to power.

The family allegedly owns many houses and lots in posh Dasmariñas Village, where Rep. Abby Binay-Campos and her brood live, and in other chic enclaves as well.

A friend once told me that when he was looking around for a beach property in Batangas, in the three places that he went to, he was told that his would-be neighbors would be the Binays.

All told, property holdings of the Binays would possibly amount to hundreds of millions, according to my sources.

The properties are in the name of dummies, of course, the reason why you won’t find their names in the land titles.

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Two former mayors of Sto. Tomas, Batangas—Renato Federico and Osmundo Maligaya—have been charged in the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged rigged  bidding in the construction of  a municipal annex building in 2012.

They were also accused of paying in full the amount of P15,950,550 to the winning bidder even if the project was not yet completed.

It’s a sad commentary of the times when  even in a small town like Sto. Tomas, corruption has deeply imbedded itself into our body politic.