Solons cool to idea of impeaching Binay

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE VEEP? Vice President Jejomar Binay INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–So who will bell the cat?

From yellow to red, politicians across party lines in the House of Representatives on Tuesday showed no interest in impeaching Vice President Jejomar Binay as suggested by Albay Gov. Joey Salceda to resolve charges of corruption being leveled at the clear front-runner in the 2016 presidential election.

Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon said Salceda should address his impeachment proposal to his colleagues in the Liberal Party (LP).

“With our experience in the previous impeachment, party lines seem to speak louder than actual merit and evidence. I think [Salceda’s] Palace allies should fire the first shot,” Ridon said.

Ridon is part of the militant Makabayan bloc that recently endorsed three impeachment complaints against President Aquino in the House.

The impeachment plot against the President fizzled out after Makabayan failed to muster support outside the bloc.

Speaking at a news forum on Monday, Salceda said impeaching Binay would bring closure to allegations of corruption against the Vice President and his family and enable the government to concentrate on urgent national problems.

A Senate blue ribbon subcommittee is investigating charges thrown at Binay by former Makati City officials that he profited from the rigging of biddings for municipal projects when he was mayor of the city.

Senate inquiry

At the center of the inquiry is an 11-story, P2.28-billion parking building that Binay’s accusers claim is overpriced.

Most damaging is the testimony of Mario Hechanova, former head of the city government’s general services division, that Binay, through city engineer Nelson Morales (now deceased), gave him a P200,000 monthly allowance to rig biddings in favor of contractors selected by the mayor.

But even politicians from the ruling LP in the House are not jumping at the opportunity to eliminate Binay from the 2016 race for Malacañang.

For one thing, the charges against Binay are not new and the alleged offenses were supposed to have been committed when he was not yet an impeachable official.

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez said shifting the venue of the corruption probe against Binay from the Senate to the House through impeachment would not resolve the scandal.

Up to Ombudsman

“I think the issue [is] a matter for the Ombudsman. That is the proper forum [for] this issue. There is too much politics involved and it drags down Congress,” Benitez said.

Benitez noted that the subject of the inquiry, the extortionate pricing of the Makati parking building, was initiated seven years ago during Binay’s term as city mayor. “Why bring it up again? Is there a political color in this?” Benitez asked.

Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas doubted whether the Vice President could be thrown out of office for acts committed before he was elected in 2010.

“There’s a legal opinion that this is not impeachable because these are alleged offenses that were committed at the time when he was not yet an impeachable officer,” said Treñas, the LP leader in the Visayas region.

But Treñas said the Senate should be allowed to inquire into what it felt needed investigation.

Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice said he was not too keen on endorsing an impeachment complaint against Binay, who he had earlier urged to resign from the Cabinet for criticizing the Aquino administration.

Erice said there should be enough evidence to warrant Binay’s impeachment.

But in a privilege speech, Erice said “the plunder in the most expensive parking building in the world was clearer than the sun’s rays.”

Misuse of impeachment

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said that his party-list group had yet to discuss the matter to determine if there was sufficient basis for an impeachment complaint.

“Impeachment is a move that must be resorted to only with the best and gravest of reasons. Its ready use for the silliest of reasons by groups that really have no commitment to democracy erodes its credibility and makes it an ineffective mechanism when it is really needed to safeguard the democratic process,” said Bello, a member of the majority coalition in the House.

But the minimally opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) sees an impeachment move against Binay in the House is not farfetched.

“When you’re against Malacañang, or you’re against the allies of Malacañang, they have everything at their disposal,” UNA secretary general Toby Tiangco told reporters on Tuesday.

But the Navotas congressman said Binay was “not bothered” by the threat of impeachment.

“[H]e knows the only reason he’s being [attacked] like this is he is the one the people want to be president, and by people, we mean the poor who are happy with his service,” Tiangco said.

Anti-impeachment fund

Asked if Binay had enough allies in Congress to stem an impeachment threat, Tiangco said: “We will find out. We cannot say for sure if we will get the numbers.”

Tiangco claimed that Malacañang had some P600 billion in lump sums in the 2015 budget at its disposal, “which can be distributed [to allied lawmakers] at any time.”

“We cannot counter that,” Tiangco said.

Allies of President Aquino in the House quashed three impeachment complaints against him last month.

An impeachment case in the House would require a one-third vote from congressmen for it to be sent to the Senate for trial.

That means at least 97 votes in the 290-strong House.

“Definitely it’s a numbers game. We will have to explain why he is not impeachable,” Tiangco said.

“Our strategy is to argue our case, and it will be shown that [Vice President Binay has the support of the people]. So it’s up to them, if they want to go against the support of the people,” he said.

Binay to speak

More witnesses are reportedly appearing in the Senate inquiry to testify against Binay.

The Vice President plans to speak next week about the parking building controversy, according to his spokesman, Cavite Gov. Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla.

In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Remulla said the Vice President and his advisers believed “the country deserved to [hear] his response” to the accusations thrown at him in the Senate hearings.

“[The Vice President said] he would not let next week pass without him responding to the allegations against [him],” Remulla said in Filipino, this time in a radio interview.

“He would show that all the allegations against him are silly,” he said.

Remulla said he believed Salceda was not after Binay’s impeachment but just wanted to “end the silliness” that was distracting the nation.

“For Governor Salceda, impeachment is the fastest way to end the issue,” Remulla said.

He said the Senate inquiry disrupted government functions in Makati after the blue ribbon subcommittee subpoenaed 20,000 documents related to the parking building controversy.

He will show them

The Vice President, he said, will tackle those documents and show, among other things, that a building built by the contractor in Iloilo City is more costly than the Makati parking building, which in turn is less costly than the House of Representatives’ annex building.

“He will show that the government buildings [cost the same]. He will show that the contractor’s profit went to the contractor and that the contractor paid taxes. And he will show that he did not get a centavo from this,” Remulla said.

Asked in the radio interview about Binay’s falling out with former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, Remulla said Binay always emphasized work and was disappointed when he learned that Mercado, whom he originally planned to endorse as his successor at City Hall, was a gambler.

“When he learned that Vice Mayor Mercado would bet P3 million on a fighting cock in just one match and that he would go to a casino and lose P10 million in just one night, he was aghast and decided that his son could run Makati better,” Remulla said.–With a report from Christine O. Avendaño

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