MANILA, Philippines—Although tempted to call the wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay to face the carpark building probe, Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV has decided to forgo the move.
He said this would only make the Binays look like “martyrs.”
“It’s a politically touchy issue na ayaw nating gawing martyr itong mga ito so while ako parang gusto nating ipatawag, sensitive din tayo sa ganyang mga issue,” Trillanes told reporters on Wednesday when asked if former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay should also be invited to the hearing of the blue ribbon subcommittee.
“At sa akin bakit ko naman hahayaang yung asawa mo na magpaliwanag. E di ikaw na lang, ikaw yung padre de pamilya…” the senator said, referring to the Vice President.
Mrs. Binay’s name has been repeatedly mentioned in the past hearings of the committee as one of those who had allegedly received kickbacks when the Vice President was still the mayor of Makati. Their son Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay is the incumbent city mayor.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
During this Wednesday’s hearing of the committee, former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado claimed Mrs. Binay broached the idea to equip the piggery in a 350-hectare property in Batangas that the family had allegedly owned with air-condition system. The Vice President’s camp though repeatedly denied owning the property.
“Bakit ho ba air-conditioned yung piggery? Ayaw ho kasi ni doctora na nakakaamoy nang mabaho at ayaw din hong may langaw na lumilipad lipad,” Mercado told the committee.
He said it was also Mrs. Binay who had incurred huge debts from Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation, developer of the Batangas property, which he described as “Hacienda Binays.”
“May P30 million na utang si Doctora, hindi naman po nagbabayad pero tuloy po ang pagawa,” he quoted the chairman of Hilmarc’s, Efren Canlas, and former city mayor Nelson Morales as saying.
Mercado said then he would advise the two to just deduct the money from the 13-percent kickbacks that allegedly went to the Binay family for every project in Makati City.
“Pero ang problema ko po kinabukasan, minumura na ako ng ninang ko. Bakit kulang ang bag…? E binayad po namin kay Engineer Canlas, e. E, hindi nga pwedeng bawasan yan kaya gumawa kayo ng paraan kung paano mababayaran si Engineer Canlas,” he said, recalling his conversation with Mrs. Binay.
Mercado surmised that this was probably the reason Hilmarc’s projects in the city were overpriced so they could collect what Mrs. Binay owed them.
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