Verdict on Binay jurisdictional challenge out Wednesday

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Senate blue ribbon subcommittee, and not the mother committee of Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, will rule Wednesday with finality on the jurisdictional challenge of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. that seeks to stop the investigation into the alleged overpricing of the P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II.

Binay earlier asked Guingona to stop the subcommittee hearing until the blue ribbon committee, which he chairs, has decided on the jurisdictional challenge.

But Guingona on Tuesday said the task of deciding on Binay’s plea on the jurisdiction issue fell under the subcommittee’s powers. He also said the subcommittee must rule first on the jurisdictional challenge filed by Binay and other Makati City personnel before it could proceed with its inquiry.

“Until the jurisdictional challenge is resolved by the subcommittee with finality, it is only logical and proper that the hearings on Senate Resolution No. 826 be held in abeyance,” he said.

The subcommittee is scheduled to hold another hearing on the controversial parking building Wednesday. Its chair, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, said Tuesday he would ask the subcommittee members to decide on whether it has jurisdiction to tackle the issue.

Pimentel said he would make a recommendation on the jurisdictional challenge first, and would have the subcommittee members vote on this. The vote must be supported by the majority of the members present in the hearing.

If they decide to reject the jurisdictional challenge filed by Binay and several other Makati City Hall personnel, the hearing on the Makati parking building will continue, Pimentel said.

He said that if there were no new arguments presented by the Makati officials and personnel, he was unlikely to reverse his earlier rejection of the first jurisdictional challenge pleading.

The subcommittee earlier denied the jurisdictional challenge filed by Binay and Ebeng Baloloy (longtime aide of Vice President Jejomar Binay), prompting them to file a similar pleading before Guingona.

But Guingona on Tuesday said that under the Senate rules of procedure governing inquiries in aid of legislation, the subcommittee may perform “any and all acts which the committee as a whole is authorized to do and perform,” except for the power to punish for contempt, which is under the exclusive domain of the mother committee.

Thus, it is Pimentel’s subcommittee that will rule on the jurisdiction issue.

Binay and Baloloy’s pleading on jurisdiction will be considered a motion for reconsideration.

No appeal

The subcommittee’s rulings on the jurisdictional challenge will be final, and there will be no need to appeal the ruling in the blue ribbon committee, according to Guingona.

Sen. Nancy Binay, the mayor’s brother, said she and her family expected that the hearing would continue, given the conduct of the subcommittee members.

But Senator Binay also said she was surprised why Guingona did not convene the blue ribbon committee, of which she is a member, so that it would be the one to decide on the jurisdictional challenge.

Aside from Mayor Binay and Baloloy, those who had filed motions questioning the subcommittee’s jurisdiction were Makati legal officer Pio Kenneth Dasal, department heads of the Makati City government, former city administrator Marjorie de Veyra and professor Tomas Lopez of University of Makati.

Mayor Binay and his father, the Vice President, are facing a plunder complaint for the alleged overprice of the P2.28-billion parking building in the Office of the Ombudsman.

The Binay camp, which has denied the building was overpriced, has also criticized the Senate inquiry, saying it was intended to damage the Vice President’s reputation because he intends to run for President in 2016.

Former Makati officials invited to the hearing testified that bidding exercises in the city had been rigged to favor certain bidders and that Vice President Binay, when he was mayor, received kickbacks representing 13 percent of every infrastructure project in the city.