Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has directed the National Bureau of Investigation to find the people with knowledge of alleged irregularities in the Makati city government but have not been appearing in a Senate inquiry into the scandal involving Vice President Jejomar Binay.
De Lima said on Friday that the Senate had asked for NBI help in locating Gerardo “Gerry” Limlingan and Eduviges “Ebeng” Baloloy, two longtime trusted aides of Binay, during whose term as mayor the alleged irregularities happened, including the construction of the P2.28-billion Makati City Hall Building II, which the Vice President’s accusers claimed was overpriced.
De Lima said the whistle-blowers’ testimonies were “hard to ignore,” as “they have personal and direct knowledge” of the information they have disclosed to the public.
“I am sure that after the inquiry, there will be several recommendations, including, let’s say, further case buildup, investigation or the filing of cases, although there is already a case in the Ombudsman,” she said.
“So that’s what we’re discussing now: Whether we wait for the report and recommendations of the subcommittee, or if we can already start our investigation,” she added.
Former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado has told a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigating the scandal that he served as bagman for contractors and that Limlingan and Baloloy received from him large duffel bags containing millions of pesos in kickbacks for Binay.
The Department of Justice is considering opening its own investigation of the allegations against Binay.
Plunder charges
De Lima said she would meet with Mercado and two other witnesses against Binay—lawyer Renato Bondal and Nicolas Enciso—early next week to get more information about their complaints against the Vice President and his son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr.
The National Bureau of Investigation. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
Bondal and Enciso filed plunder charges against the Binays in the Office of the Ombudsman in July over the alleged overpricing of the parking building, while Mercado has testified in a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee inquiry into the scandal that Binay got 13 percent of the cost of every municipal infrastructure project in Makati as kickback.
In his testimony at the inquiry on Wednesday, Mercado said Binay owned a 350-hectare property in Rosario town, Batangas province, where he had a mansion, a 40-car garage, a maze garden, two man-made lagoons, a flower farm, an orchard, a fighting cock farm and an air-conditioned piggery.
“Remember that they are under the [Witness Protection Program] of the Department of Justice so we have access to them and they can provide us more information, whether or not they have said these in the ongoing Senate inquiry,” De Lima told reporters.
De Lima said she was after “valuable or significant information” from the witnesses that would help in ferreting out the truth but may go to waste if not pursued in building up a case.
The three witnesses were placed under government protection in September.
Asked why the NBI was willing to step into the Binay case but has kept its hands off allegations of hidden wealth against Philippine National Police Chief Director General Alan Purisima, De Lima said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had already said it would investigate and put police officials through a lifestyle check.
Senate asks for NBI help
“Here in the Binay issue, it has been mentioned in the subcommittee that they will seek the help of the NBI in tracking down personalities who were implicated. In the case of General Purisima, the DILG leadership has already announced that they are forming a group that will conduct a lifestyle check … So the NBI is not keen on getting involved,” De Lima said.
She said the NBI had investigated cases on its own, including the P10-billion pork barrel scam in which it built a case through the testimony of and evidence submitted by Benhur Luy and other whistle-blowers.
The DOJ does “not go with political considerations,” she said.
“We are careful about that. Of course, their consistent line is that this is part of a demolition job because of his political plans,” De Lima said, referring to Binay’s long-announced plan to run for President in 2016.
“But as always, I think the public deserves to know the truth. And since it’s the mandate of the NBI and the DOJ to investigate and find out the truth on such sensitive and important issues, the NBI will do it (investigate the Binays),” she added.
Witnesses’ obligations
During her meeting with the whistle-blowers, De Lima said she would remind them about the rules of government protection. She said she was “a little alarmed” when she learned that the three had divulged their confidential security arrangement to the press.
She said she would remind the whistle-blowers that they have “obligations” and “commitments” as witnesses under government protection.
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